


Hetaclones

by Chibiclem



Series: Hetaclones [1]
Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Clones, Gen, Human Experimentation, Mild Gore, Research
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-28
Updated: 2021-02-05
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:00:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 21
Words: 47,518
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27757294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chibiclem/pseuds/Chibiclem
Summary: 'I' was living with his little brother 'P' in their underground facility and even the odd little details never bothered him until everything he believed in was shattered into pieces.Meanwhile, America, under the pretence of a holiday with some of his friend nations, is sent to investigate the works of an eminent scientist that seems to be hiding his activities... (Inspired from the Hetagame "Hetahazard" that I peculiarly loved for the insight on the clones, but no zombie in this one!)
Series: Hetaclones [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2030470
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11





	1. Prologue

It was morning. Weather was as bright and warm as ever on the already advanced lonely morning.  
The black Volkswagen would reflect the light of rays until it reached the edge of the forest.  
The blond man driving inside was thoughtful, not leaving one second the road from his gaze but at the same time not fixing it entirely. He knew the road by heart anyway, so his mind could wander a little, feel the trees and explosions of green that humans had tamed through time.  
If he was asked, he would barely remember what it looked like a hundred years ago and for someone of his kind, a hundred years was nothing! It was humans that were advancing too fast, mastering the elements that were initially unknown, making things appear while others were disposed of...and even he sometimes couldn’t keep up with everything.

But back to the present, the road was more gravel and sand as he was plunging deep into Kuhfort Park, his car leaving trails of rising dirt behind it.  
Not everybody could access this secret part of the immense garden, but he had the authorization to do so, of course.  
There weren't many things that could resist his accreditations, even if less and less people were to know who...or what he was.  
Today specially, he couldn’t care less about being recognized, as he wanted to take some time alone. Well, not that alone since he was in canine company. 3 of them, all from different species, all trained enough to stay still on the seats, looking at the scenery with their hung tongues and curious gazes.  
Hidden in the fur of the fluffiest one, a yellow dot was dozing off comfortably, but not for long, as the car stopped on his track and all three dogs shot their head toward their master.  
The man gave them a comforting smile, or tried as his expression immediately hardened in a military trained way. He couldn’t trick them, but at least, he could maintain composure.  
While letting his four legs passengers free themself out, he grabbed the flower bouquet France had arranged for him with passion. It was so him to put so much effort into unproductive activities, but for the special occasion that represented this day, he could only be grateful, as he knew the long-haired man had put all his heart to the task. It was his way to be here even if he couldn’t be present, having his duties to fulfill.

Now abandoning the car, the strange procession followed a narrow passage emerging from the main road that was ending near. The dogs were all calm, surrounding their master, sometimes whining in his direction and bobbing their head on the side.  
But the buffed man was facing stray forward now, in an undisturbed pace, not even as dirt was licking his black costume. He didn’t care, and that was not normal for a perfectionist like him. But he didn’t, all this was too important for him to let such futile details get onto him.  
So he proceeded, until they reached a glade he recognized immediately.  
The dogs looked more agitated, and two of them ran straight to the gate, both barking at the same time in a demanding tone.  
Not that the gate was closed, the fence was old and nobody was maintaining it except for him. But even now he had difficulty to just approach the garden. 

His usually blue icy eyes were trying their best to hide the sadness, but his clenched jaw was betraying him. The final destination was near, and the three dogs, all silent, had now left him to surround the stone plate on the ground, at the back of the seemingly abandoned garden. Only their tails were moving slowly, their head and ears down.  
It’s at this moment the yellow dot, that had awakened during their trip, began to flap his little wings, emitting a heartbroken chirp as he recognized the plate.  
Like thunder, the bird flew directly on the epitaph and cried his soul out, causing the nation to tear up a bit as well. How was he gonna talk now? Berlitz whined in his direction, and came to comfort him, making him feel again a pang in his heart. He crouched down to caress him, feeling the warm touch of his compassionate dog.  
Now, he had regained enough courage to place solemnly the bouquet of cornflowers and to greet his brother properly.

“Hi Gilbert...”

It had been 25 years now. It had been this long since Prussia had disappeared, not even letting a body behind to bury, right after the Collapse of the Berlin wall. But even now, despite all this time, Germany just couldn’t stand his absence.

******

‘I’ was waiting in his white room with growing excitement. Today was a special day, and the little brunette couldn’t help but feel impatient.  
Father had told him yesterday he was going to get a surprise, but the small 6 year-old boy didn’t know what yet. So many mysteries….but the boy was patient, playing with his dark collar instead, rolling onto his bed while trying to guess what it would be, or picking up his elastic ball toy that would bump repeatedly on the wall.  
Mm...Maybe it would be a new book with beautiful photos of italian landscapes, he thought as he glanced at his own collection stacked around the corner and on his shelf.  
He loved photos, because all he had seen so far was white walls of marbles and for the older corridors, lazily painted white bricks on gray tiles. He knew by heart for example each corner of his room, the sink, the toilet, his bed, the few toys, the cameras, etc..  
With such a grayish environment, ‘I’ could be attracted by anything colorful like an insect attracted to light, and the only colors came from his books, his foods and the screen used for his check ups. It made him easy to please, really, and anything would make the humble child happy.

But when the door opened, he wasn’t expecting what he saw : Father in his usual white coat was standing at the door near a tiny boy with messy white hair and red eyes, as one of a kind the little brunette had never seen before. Aside from the white t-shirt and shorts, that were identical to his own, he was wearing a similar collar around the neck, except that on his was written near the barcode “ P-KXY11DPL006”. It seemed all the children in the facility had a different collar and ‘I’ had always asked himself what it meant. But hey, what so unusual about having different names? It was easier than if they had the same!  
The brown spiky haired physician looked with his usual indecipherable gaze hidden behind round glazes his oldest “son”’s reaction, then pushed gently the back of the stumbling 3 year-old boy at his feet before making introduction with a smirk : 

“Now ‘I’, I present you ‘P’, your new little brother. He will be living with you in this room for now. He is smaller than you, so you have to be nice with him, ok? ”

After a second to process the news, the brunette’s smile went wide, his copper curl waving in joy as he dropped from his bed to launch himself on his new brother. He would almost cry. He had always been jealous when ‘R’ got a brother and now, he was having one too ! It was beyond his expectations!  
The albinos was a little destabilized at first, looking with round eyes the other bo , but he eventually laughed as he was slightly tickled and hugged back, responding with a cute “Noice to meet you, bwother I!”, still fumbling onto his words.  
‘P’ had never seen another child before, and the experience was pleasant, feeling immediately comforted and adopted by his ‘step’ brother.  
Soon, ‘I’ laughed as well, and instinctively went to show him the room, sharing his toys and books while the staff was installing a new bed in his room.

All this time, Father was looking at them, thoughtful, before slowly turning on his heel, leaving the room.  
The weekly meeting of the facility’s researchers was about to begin.


	2. Children of the facility

Two years had passed since that day, days so similar from one another that ‘I’ and ‘P’ didn’t even notice how much they had grown up.  
The little albinos revealed to be an outgoing curious kid, glued to his older brother, while ‘I’ was maturing a lot according to Father’s appreciation.  
Their days were segmented in different activities, all looking like school for them two, but with nuances that ‘I’ had started to notice.  
Some odd things that didn’t bother him at first, but with time that just didn’t make sense.  
For example, ‘P’ wasn’t studying exactly the same thing, the same history. He was to learn about an ancient empire called “Prussia” and him, about “Italy”. When there was only him, he had thought Miss Miller was just fond of italian stuff, but apparently that wasn’t the case.  
When he had asked why, the woman seemed thoughtful, before replying with a smile “ Well, if you knew the same thing, that wouldn’t be fun right? There’s enough countries with their own history for each of you, and afterward, you will be able to share with your brother a lot of things!!”

She looked so enthusiastic and confident in her explanation that “I” took it at that, brushing the odd feeling off and smiling back while his gaze returned to the open book beneath him.  
‘P’ was more bored by the lesson, his head directly IN the book, frowning and making a scene about not wanting to read anymore. The words were just too difficult and it was almost time to go play!!  
But both knew they had to do it anyway, that was just like that. The weird professor always mumbling to himself told them so, and often during their check-ups, asked them if they had any dream about the respective countries, among other technical things.  
Well, with all the photos they were watching each day, of course, but it seemed it didn’t suffize to the man and he would always tell them to study more afterward while shaking his head in deception.  
Not mean, but a hard-to-please man.

Their time of study came to an end finally, and both left the chairs they were sitting on to the exit, where one of their numerous escorts was waiting for them.  
Walking through the white corridor, the boys were talking together about what they had learnt, when they at one point heard a noise coming from a hallway adjacent to theirs.  
There was the voice of a man sounding angry, spatting his words to the smaller figure besides him.

“....And now you will both do as I say Number 2! Don’t force me to punish you again!”

The group reached the hallways and met with a raven haired man pulling the arm of a teenager, while another kid was following head down to his feet, looking depressed, tired and painful as he was massaging his temple.  
The teenager was resisting the grab and responding to the man with angriness but hint of pleading in the tone. 

“Fath...Mister!! Don’t you see he isn’t feeling well? He can’t read a book in his state! Urg!”

The Mister in question, which was a scientist according to his white coat and his badge, wasn’t going to give in to the argument. He pushed forward the other kid with a hand, the other still pulling the teenager with force.

“ And he has missed too many lessons already! At this rate, Number 6 will surpass him and he is younger than him! Ah! Talking about the devil…”

The green infuriated eyes fell onto ‘P’, and if the 5 years old was oblivious to the glare, ‘I’ knew better that it wasn't a friendly gaze.  
Dr Emilian Malsinger literally hated them to a passion, but what he hated even more than them was certainly Father. The two physician researchers were rivals of some sort, and for what ‘I’ had understood, their father was winning over him and gaining more favors from the higher ups so the man was on edge. How was Father ‘beating’ him exactly, it was a mystery for the brunette, but he knew it was a matter surrounding them : ‘R’ and ‘C’, Him and ‘P’.

He had questioned himself or ‘R’ about this matter, without them reaching a perfect conclusion. ‘R’, or ‘Number 2’ , was a 11 year-old grayish blond haired boy with purple eyes, a big nose and of course, he was also wearing the black collar and the regulatory white T-shirt and short. He was taller than any of them, a little more than his age. ‘C’, also known as ‘Number 5’, on the contrary looked like a small kid uneasy on his feet. He was blond with curly hair on the edges and had a curl even longer than ‘I’s. His eyes were of another shade of deep purple. They all looked like kids, but there was a huge difference between them.  
The two Malsinger’s kids were always looking tired, depressed and worned out.  
One would only stop on the way their father treated them, but ‘I’ knew it was much more than that. Father had told him : ‘R’ and ‘C’ were sick with a terrible condition due to something wrong in their birth process. ‘C’ was the most heavily affected by it, and he would often be in intensive care. Both had to receive an injection of a “serum”, and it was almost every 4 hours for ‘C’.  
The brunette didn’t think much about it, but each time they would meet, he couldn’t help but to pity them a little.  
‘P’ was also aware of this, but didn’t comprehend it much. By the way, he didn’t care about their differences, and to prove that, he went straight to his friend ‘C’, ignoring the bitter man beside him.

“Hi ‘C’! You wanna play with me? I’ve built a plane with Miss Miller, he is super duper cool!!”

His smile was contagious, and although ‘C’ wasn’t feeling well, the timid boy smiled back. Not for long, as Emilian intervened, facing with all his height the albinos with disdain.

“Ha, you want to play with him? Kästner is so stupid to let you do what you want like spoiled kids!! He thinks we are in a nursery school here?! I will not let you interfere, Number 6! Step aside right now.”

It was another of their names, but it was never pleasant to be called that way, not that the whole phrase wasn’t sufficient in itself to make them feel uncomfortable. Even the man accompanying them to their room obeyed, not wanting to be yelled at, hushing the kids under his responsibility to do the same.  
The scientist proceeded to walk through, forcing his experiments to follow the pace and to take the corridor the two kids and their escort had just left.  
The brothers looked at the leaving trio, before being reminded it was time for them to return to their room.  
Obediently, they followed, already thinking about the game they wanted to play afterward!


	3. Degeneration

Time still passed since their encounter in the corridor. They hadn’t met with Dr Malsinger since then and not much with ‘R’ or ‘C’ either, as the 2 didn’t have the same schedule. It was as if they always avoided them to be all together, to ‘P’s dismay.  
Today, Father was walking ‘I’ personally to his usual check up at the Weird Professor place, and ‘I’ that was trailing him like an obedient kid, decided it was a good time to play “questions/answers”. The boy had always been curious and this questioning session together was something usual between them. Father wouldn’t respond to everything, being evasive sometimes, but his calm and relaxed demeanor was inviting the boy to at least try.

“Father! Why can’t we study together with ‘R’ and ‘C’? Why are we separated from them?”

The brown spiky haired man sent him his usual indecipherable look from behind his glasses. He always looked relaxed yes, but at the same time, his facade was never broken with useless emotions, his smirk being a whole part of his “mask”. Only his brown eyes seemed to express something, piercing through the glass and directly to the soul.   
The man just looked up to the road, and answered, not changing his pace of walk at all.

“ Well, a part of it is Docteur Malsinger trying to avoid me or you to interfere with his study. But he wasn’t alone in the making of this decision, he is far from having full control on his activities... No, do you remember when I told you about ‘R’ and ‘C’s special condition? ‘R’ and ‘C’ are unstable, contrary to you and your brother. If we separate you all as much as possible, it’s because we fear their contact might...affect you as well.``

Oh, that was new!  
So this was for their own safety after all? The boy understood the decision better, but now, he was curious about this special condition.   
However, as he was about to put his thoughts into words, Father had already passed the badge to open a door, and had pushed him gently to advance toward Professor Eiling, before leaving him under the care of the neurologist.  
It was today that he was going to have his MRI brain scan, and since it was taking time and that he had work, Father was gone a few minutes later.  
The question would have to wait, but little did ‘I’ know it wouldn’t be needed.

*****

About three weeks had passed. ‘P’ and ‘I’ were having a break in their activities. Ms Miller was on vacation, as well as many employees, emptying the facility for february holidays. For once though, the boys had free time and ‘C’ was with them, as it was ‘R’s turn to have a check-up.  
It was easier to monitor the kids in the same place, called the “Play room”, and it wouldn’t be them that would argue about it!  
‘I’ was reading a children's novel on the floor, ‘P’ was making paper planes, throwing them in the air with all the force he could, and ‘C’ was playing with his teddy bear making him visit ‘P’s airport, before putting him to sleep tenderly. All this while talking about Ms Miller’s promise to come back with gifts.

“I wanna a figurine! A plane figurine! And that can fly for real!!!” exclaimed the albinos.  
‘C’ rarely would talk about his opinion on things, but as it was like a prediction game, he whispered :

“I would like...a butterfly knot for Teddy, and a hat….Ugh…”

The boy winced, before bringing his hand to his temple. He almost always had a permanent headache, and sometimes it was just strong enough for him to lose on his track.   
He instinctively went to the corner of the room and curled, a position he adopted to conjure the pain. ‘P’ immediately stopped playing with his planes and went to his friend.

“‘C’! Are you okay? It’s the woodpecker in your head again?”

‘C’ only responded with a grunt, putting his head in between his legs, locking strongly Teddy against him, freeing his hands to go to his head.  
‘I’ had stopped what he was doing too, and got up. He didn’t have the instinct to call for an adult, instead, he went to the boy alongside his brother, watching him.  
It looked terribly painful. The little blond was having spasms and was whining pitifully. Today, the pain would be especially tough to bear, like if his head was caught in a vise.  
Soon, ‘C’ started to feel agitated, mumbling “It hurts...it hurts..” while balancing himself back and forth restlessly.  
Tears appeared and dripped from his eyes while he was pleading for it to stop. The brothers were powerless, trying to talk to him and to comfort him.

“Hey, it is okay, it will go! I know! Do you want a fresh glass of water? Let’s go take one!” proposed ‘I’ gently,bending before him and offering his hand.

But ‘C’ didn’t take it at all, and then, everything went wrong.  
The brunette was still bending over the younger boy when he spotted red dots coming from his nose. The red dots became a thin stream, making him panic.  
Then, suddenly, ‘C’ screamed out of nowhere, smacking his head against the wall behind him in the process.  
That’s when their sloppy guardian stopped chatting wiht his collegues in the adjacent room and immediately rushed to them.  
In mere seconds, ‘C’ had started trembling and then, collapsed on his side, before losing consciousness. But his body was restless as he began to convulse, blood now dripping from his eyes, his ears, and even his mouth.  
The man forced the two shocked experiments to move away and started to call over the phone.

“Emergency! Emergency! Number 5 is degenerating in the Playroom, on the 2nd floor!! He is having a seizure!! Bring the serum and the medics , hurry!!!”

Normally, a dose of serum would have sufficed for an attack. But the adult feared it wouldn’t be enough.  
He still proceeded to take out a syringe full of a light green substance he was ordered to always bring with him and injected it in the boy’s leg, while shaking on his pulse.

‘I’ and ‘P’ were petrified in horror. They had never seen their friend in this state before, and the fact that the adult looked tense just made the situation worse.  
What woke them up was when the medics from the MRI console finally arrived, alongside ‘R’ who had escaped vigilance as soon as he had heard his brother was in a terrible state.

“‘C’!!!! Brother!!!” the teenager screamed, putting all his force to rush against the arms that were trying to contain him. He might have only been 11 year-old, he was strong enough to oppose a fully grown man, and 2 more were needed to avoid him from moving further.  
More people were flooding in the room and soon the children weren’t able to see ‘C’ behind that tidal wave of white.  
One of the nurse noticing them in the way shot at one of her colleague : 

“Hey you! Take number 3 and 6 with you! Hurry! “

At that, a middle-aged man came immediately to the boys, grabbing their arms.

“Number 3, Number 6! Come here, it’s not a spectacle for children! Let’s go to your room shall we? We will take… good care of him...”

The brothers followed reluctantly, their eyes glued to the spot where ‘C’ was and on ‘R’ who was still struggling against the arms around him, almost breaking the nose of one agent.  
The last thing that ‘I’ saw was the despair in ‘R’s tired eyes directed at him, giving him chills down his spine.

****

‘I’ and ‘P’ had been sent out to their room, which had been locked. They both silently sat on the floor, trying to process what had happened.  
They had never felt this much fear of the unknown and of ‘C’s condition . They had never been that clueless...or didn’t have the impression they were.  
It’s the little albinos, with a hand in his mouth biting his nails, that broke the silence.

“ Big brother ‘I’, will ‘C’ be ok?”

‘I’ gazed down to the dark gray tiles of their room before answering.

“I don’t know...I have never seen him like that. He was suffering so much....”

“ But ‘R’ have the same problem, and he is fine, so ‘C’ is gonna be fine?”

Oh, that. It wasn’t that easy now that ‘I’ thought about it. ‘R’ was indeed the oldest of them all and also stronger, giving the illusion that he was healthy. But even before the brunette met with ‘P’, he had witnessed ‘R’s degenerative attacks as well, although it was always some nosebleed, headache and abdominal pains calmed with the injection.  
But each time he would meet with him, he could see that there was always this chronic background pain that would never go away and that couldn’t be relieved no matter all the medication he had.   
If he was able to maintain appearance, it was only because the big guy was trying his best to support his pretty ill brother.

“Big Brother ‘I’...Do you think we will be sick too?”

To that, ‘I’ looked up at the pale boy and shook his head with what he wanted to appear as a reassuring smile.

“No ‘P’, it will be okay! Father told us we were stable and that we don’t need the injection, so it’s fine! “

But he wasn’t much sure of that in truth, as he remembered what Father had told him earlier…  
‘P’ seeing his brother engulfed by his doubts approached him and offered the biggest hug he could give. The brunette returned it, and for a long hour, they cuddled to give each other strength.


	4. The lost experiment

‘C’ had never been the same after that. The boy had become mute, blank with dull eyes, almost unable to maintain balance on his own. It was almost like he couldn’t listen to anything and was now living in a separated world.  
The children didn’t know why, but MRI had shown what was wrong with him. And it was irreversible.  
The day after the incident, a staff was held to make a point about what had happened.  
With no surprise, Dr Malsinger was furious, punching the table with his fist.

“This is a scandal! Who was in charge of monitoring them?? Why didn’t they intervene earlier to avoid the damage??!! I knew giving the experiments too much liberties would lead to this!!”

Professor Nina Arkonlavesc, the current department chief of the 4th floor of the facility, ticked at the expression of angriness like if she was watching a kid’s tantrum. The 70 year old buffed women with tomboy blond platinum hair and icy blue eyes that could pierce souls immediately interjected her colleague with a cold tone.

“Dr Malsinger, you would better watch your mouth before making irrelevant accusations! Number 5 was already defective from the very beginning if you need a reminder. What happened was a matter of time, and it is all the fault of YOUR incompetence at doing YOUR job!”

The tension started rising in the meeting room, but Dr Malsinger couldn’t respond back to his superior, and she perfectly knew it. However, the former servicewoman and actual right-hand of the Head researcher of the facility wasn’t one to mock the others, she was all about facts and getting to the point.  
She turned to the Professor Eiling and continued on her tracks.

“The question now is about if Number 5 can be recovered, at most partially. He is, after all, the clone of a nation’s personification and we know that they have high regenerative ability, so we might be able to enhance his regeneration! What do you think, Professor?”

The doctor of medicine questioned at that moment shook his head in negation.

“Unfortunately, there was too much damage done this time...As you know, I’m studying the memory held by the nation’s cells to find the difference between them and normal cells. You know as well that I’ve discovered the nation’s cells were connected to the land, its history, its people by a strange energy we can’t fully comprehend yet. We never succeeded with any of our experiments to connect these cells to their respective country, even by studying their nation’s history in order to ‘reactivate’ that cells’ memory. Yet, it’s this connection that permits these special cells to rebuild the individual according to the current state of its nation.  
Our experiments, the animals included, have higher regenerative ability than normal individuals, but not enough to replace so much missing cells and regain a global structure, especially when their loss is due to a degenerative attack..”

After talking, Professor Thomas Eiling stood up and went to the computer, to broadcast imaging of a damaged brain.

“The degenerative disease is an affection caused by the instability of these cells, as you all know. Like if they were…. ‘rejecting’ the individual itself because they are ‘forced’ to form a mere copy of the original personification. The result is that, during an attack, the cells autodestruct from every part of the body, and specially the thin membranes first, like the small blood vessels...and of course all other cells, such as the muscles, bones, organs and brain’s cells. Degenerative attacks are unpredictable in frequency and consequences but tend to be more aggressive over time, when the regeneration capacity is at its limit.  
Currently, only Number 3 and Number 6 from our main Project are stable and exempt of it, thanks to Dr Kästner’s prodigious work…

What happened to Number 5 was indeed unpredictable, causing this time huge cerebral haemorrhages. As you can see on his MRI, he now has several cavities filled with blood, corresponding to infarction of his brain’s cells.  
Rebuilding his neuronal network as it was, it is impossible with our current knowledge and technology.”

“But what about Professor Bertelloni’s ‘Preservation serum’? It is pretty useful to accelerate recovery and stop an attack. If we put Number 5 in an incubator like we do sometimes for Number 2, it might help. And maybe Bertelloni can supervise the sessions!”

Again, a negative nod was given from the neurologist to the surly woman that always looked annoyed, especially when things weren’t going her way.

“Indeed, the preservation’s serum is a really impressive progress from my dear biologist colleague Professor Bertelloni, but it can only stop in time the process of apoptosis and cancel the destruction to allow these cells to start recovering. Thus, the current serum only works on cells that are still alive and have to take some time to propagate in the body..In Number 5’s situation, he lost his brain cells massively in a short amount of time. I can’t even try my memory’s forced awakening experience in his state nor Growth acceleration, as it would just kill him and I would gain no data...“

The woman grunted, while Dr Malsinger was looking at the table in disbelief. The scientist knew what was coming, and Pr Arkonlavesc didn’t take long before concluding.

“Then, he has become useless for his initial purpose. We can still use his body to create the next serum in order to preserve at least Number 2 for the second step of the project...But well, it is not mine since the clones are Professor Travasco’s long lasting work after all, so we will have to wait for him to decide when he returns from congress. For now, Dr Malsinger, we need to separate Number 5 from the others and avoid Number 2 to suffer the same treatment. When Pr Travasco will be back, we will probably put him in an incubator to preserve his body for further use.  
Now, we can dismiss.”

Immediately, all the scientists at the table went off in a common silence, before some groups started to form and talk about the matter into whispers. A frowning and frustrated Dr Emilian Malsinger waited for Dr Lambert Kästern to leave the room as well to talk with him once they were alone. And I assure you, it wasn’t with a friendly behaviour!

“Does that amuse you to see me fail Kästner? How coincidental it was for your 2 experiments to be here at that moment! Now, Travasco will look down at me again while you are praised for your “prodigious” luck! Or should I say, your grandfather’s work since you are just parroting his research!”

“ Whatever you’re saying right now, Dr Malsinger, will not undo the past, and you know I’ve nothing to do with it. You should pay more attention to your research than on futile matters before you lose your only way to gain appreciation.”

The two exchanged glares, before they both parted although they were going the same way, on the 2nd floor, where the clones were raised.  
Emilian swore to himself he was going to make some drastic decisions about his remaining sane subject ‘R-MXY04DPL002’ .  
But he couldn’t even imagine what would happen next.


	5. Shattered world

Then, it happened, only a few days after the previous incident, as if fate had decided to continue tormenting the inhabitants of the facility.  
It happened on a regular day...well not that regular actually. Since ‘C’s accident in the play room, the boys would stay much more in their room. Father was busier too, and the children would have less time with him.  
They were a little bored in their white room, and still affected by what happened. ‘P’ was playing with a rubik’s cube, while ‘I’ had his book open but couldn’t read it, his mind elsewhere.  
For the first time, he was really thinking thoroughly about ‘R’ and ‘C’s condition with all its seriousness. He was thinking about the meaning behind ‘R’s eyes, the terror he had seen in them, as if he knew something that they didn’t, about ‘C’ or more...about what could happen to ‘C’.  
Of course, it was normal to be worried seeing his brother having an attack, but the time when they met with Malsinger in the corridor, ‘R’ had similar emotions running in him, even if it had been hidden behind his frustration. Could Dr Malsinger….be harming ‘C’ after the incident? He was already permanently pissed by him being so “mentally slow” and “unproductive”...but no, he was his Father, he wouldn’t go too far. Especially now that ‘C’ was very ill, he would take better care of him, he hoped...

Like thunder in a blue sky of a peaceful day, an alarm suddenly roared from everywhere through the whole facility, causing the two kids to jump at once and interrupting their activities.  
They had seen and heard several times the emergency bell in action, but generally, Ms Miller or an agent would warn them before the end to not worry about it.  
So right now, they were worried about it.  
In cases like this, they were instructed to stay in their room and to not open to anyone, not that the room would let them do that. The room could only be opened from the exterior, with a scientist ID and a special manipulation of the door, in order to be evacuated if needed. The option to open their door with a console by distance was also possible, but the people here didn’t want them to roam on their own in the corridors, for their ‘safety’.  
In this perspective, they were to stand near the door, ready to make the run of their life and that’s what the brunette and the albinos did, looking at the door with building anxiety.  
They didn’t move an inch, trying to catch any sound that would explain what was happening and they did hear something about “Protocole 2 for all agents!” repeated a few times, but couldn’t comprehend it.

Then, they heard a knock at their door. A loud knock, like 2 fists hitting the door, and then another muffled one. Instinctively, ‘I’ put himself before his little brother, as they heard the beeping of a card. It was an ID card, yet ‘I’ understood that it wasn’t one of the employees of the facility who was behind that door.  
Soon, the door was opening, and what they saw made ‘I’ whimper in surprise and shock.  
Right before them was standing a very tired and disheveled ‘R’, covered in blood.  
The teenager looked exhausted and in pain, although the blood covering his clothes..there was too much to be his own.  
‘R’ tried to slip inside the room while pushing barely the door open, but then fell halfway and crawled on the floor, his eyes fixing ‘I’s with seriousness and panic.

“P..please….close...the door. I need to talk...I..I don’t want them to find me yet...please…”

The brunette hesitated. He now was sure ‘R’ had done something very wrong, but at the same time...he was begging pitifully, looking at him with desperate eyes.  
‘I’ finally took his decision and ran to ‘R’, helping him in, before pushing a button to close their door.  
It wouldn’t stop anyone from entering, but maybe it would buy them time.  
Now, back at ‘R’, he started to notice the boy was holding his head and his stomach. But it wasn’t the only thing he noticed, as the grayish blond was clenching in his fist what looked like a large piece of sharp mirror.  
The boy was in all evidence having a degenerative attack too, but was putting all his remaining will to put it at bay.  
Despite his shallow breathing, ‘R’ started to talk again, in a succession of small sentences, the first being the shocking news of the day :

“..I’ve... killed ...Father.”

Both brothers' jaws dropped to the ground. They had needed a few seconds to comprehend he wasn’t talking about THEIR Father, but about the mean scientist.

“Wha..what? You’ve killed Dr Malsinger?? But..but why...” spluttered ‘I’, his curl cowering on itself.  
He stopped on his track though. It was difficult for ‘R’ to express himself, so he was going to let him explain further.

“He...he wanted...to separate me..from ‘C’. He...he is not..my Father….We have no father. I’ve heard...I know...what they are hiding to us for a long time.”

Now, ‘I’ was trembling at this. Sure, he knew that the adults were hiding something to them, they were only kids after all! It was normal right? Maybe he already knew this and didn’t want to learn more about it. But he did though. He did want to know, it was stronger than him. And his silence invited ‘R’ to continue.

“Urg...We are..clones. It means...we are copy, not real..From someone...they call them...personification...nation..And our fathers...they didn’t want to make us study and let us see...the outside world...like they told us.... They want to experiment on us….and make us become...one of them...even if that means sacrificing us…our memories....we are supposed to..forget everything here...and to be disposed of if we fail...”

“That’s…’R’, you can’t be serious...how do you know..”

The teenager fell back on his stomach as a spasm caught him off guard. The degeneration was in process, and his nose was bleeding, the pain was coming from everywhere and it took him many efforts to open his mouth again. Urgence could be sensed in his voice.

“Please...believe me…’I’...your Father...he is just here to...monitor you….He will not hesitate...if you do anything...he will...split you two...like me and ‘C’... Even with the pain...my..Creator...he never bothered to hear... He forced ‘C’ to work nonsense while...while he was suffering….Urg...What will happen ‘I’...if you or ‘P’ become defective too..? It will be like us...I told Father that...I wanted to go with...with my brother….I wanted to sleep in the box too...because I couldn’t stand...the pain without him...But he..he rejected me...He told me I was going to be here and study and... awaken memory until I..die or..forget….and..and that I would never see brother...again.”

“Where is ‘C’?” asked innocently little ‘P,’ that had been silent until now, as the repetitive mention of his friend’s disposal was worrying him.

The purple eyes looked up, becoming watery, and a faint bitter smile distorted his face.

“He..is dead too...And it will be my..turn next…Urg...”

The implication behind all this was too much for now, but even if he didn’t want to believe it, ‘I’ knew his comrade wasn’t lying.  
Now, ‘R’ couldn’t stand on his feet, and got onto his side. Blood was soaking his white clothes from his belly, but it was like the boy was bleeding through every of his holes. The 2 indemn experiments even saw an ulcerated wound opening at his leg at fast speed.  
His voice was becoming so faint ‘I’ had to crawl at his height to hear what he was saying, especially since noises were heard from outside in the corridor.

“...It will... be over soon…’I’..I wanted to tell….the conduit...I’ve found...a conduit...I wanted...to see the outside....With ‘C’..…….’C’......’C’.....Brother…”

It was his last words before his head dropped on the floor, his eyes half-closing. His chest moved around 5 or 7 more times before stopping completely.  
The door had opened and a few security officers alongside nurses and doctors entered the room, pushing ‘I’s aside from the pool of blood that was forming.  
‘P’ followed him, cuddling his brother again, as they both absent-mindedly looked at the agitation around them, the ones screaming, the others taking Number 2’s body on a stretcher, the last injecting him with the serum...  
Some people came to them, asking if they were alright, examining them for head to toes in search of bruises or wounds , but ‘I’ couldn’t really see them. He was now in his whole world, as this one had shattered. As he understood he had lost almost everything today.

****  
The internal investigation had taken almost 2 weeks, the viewing of all the 2nd floor cameras, the interrogation of the witnesses and soon, the report was written :

“

Report of murder cases of 16th of February 2016 

Date of report: 2 march 2016 - Project DOPPLEGANGER

17h35 - Experiment subject R-MXY04DPL002, that we will simplify as Subject Number 2 for now on, broke the mirror in his room (number 08), in what was believed to be the child's usual expression of angriness. He hid a piece of the mirror on himself without anyone noticing.  
Doctor Emilian Malsinger was called and came, taking him along to “punish him himself” according to witnesses. While travelling with him in the corridor, the child seemed to have asked to go to the toilet repeatedly, until putting himself to the floor and Dr Malsinger decided to bring him himself on the one near the 3rd corridor of area 2.

17h45 - In the toilet, which didn’t have a surveillance device, the subject presumably climbed on the toilet seat, calling for Dr Malsinger to help him with something, and when he opened the door, jumped on him and cut his throat and carotid arteries around 4 times, killing Dr Emilian Malsinger on the spot.  
He stole his ID card, and used his DECT phone to make a call to the last number that had called, meaning the agents before his room, attracting the attention of security agents who dispatched in area 1. 

17h52 - Subject Number 2 snickered in Room 07 where subject C-MXY11DPL005 was installed and killed him, outside of camera's reach. 

17h56 - Discovery of Doctor Malsinger’s body and activation of the alarm.  
The security agents, who were taking their break in the restroom deployed themselves around the area of the murder. Subject Number 2 hid in Room 07 before opening it with the ID card once there was no one around, and proceeded to Room 02.

18h08 - Subject Number 2 opened Room 02, in presence of Subject I-KXY07DPL003 and P-KXY11DPL006.

18h13 - Death of Subject Number 2 from a “Cell acute Degeneration attack”. Rescuing of Subject Number 3 and Number 6. It seems no harm was done to neither experiment.

18h30 - Discovery of Subject Number 5’s body on the floor of his room, carotid artery’s cut once with precision. He was holding his teddy bear against his chest.

The incident was then closed and the alarm set off.  
It was found out that too much information had been openly leaked in front of Subject 2, like password, use of DECT phone, the room where Subject Number 5 was in, as well as major security procedures failures from employees.  
Security must be imperatively reinforced in the 2nd floor in area 2.

Psychological support has been provided for the workers and the 2 remaining subjects and must be pursued.  
The motive of Subject Number 2’s action seems to be his separation with Number 5 and animosity toward Dr Malsinger according to witnesses and workers.

No information about the Project seems to have been leaked to the remaining experiments, although further interviews of subject Number 3 and 6 are needed.“


	6. Undercover vacations

America was thoughtful as he walked to his boss office. Obama didn’t tell him what the matter was, and although it didn’t sound too urgent, it quite spiked his curiosity.  
Apparently,from what the president’s secretary has told him, he was gonna investigate something that was bothering the man of power.

“You called Boss? “ He eagerly asked, entering like in his hotel room. A behaviour the african-american was so used to that he didn’t bother to point it out anymore.

“Welcome Alfred. Yes indeed, I wanted to have your light about something.”

His lights uh? More like asking him to do something yeah? As America sat down, documents were placed before him, and he started to consult them before frowning, as half the information had been erased. It was an invitation for the human to start explaining.

“I was trying to put orders into all the “top-secret” projects undergoing on our territory and I found this series of files about an abandoned project from back 1967. I think it was called “Project DOPPELGANGER”. Have you heard of it before?”

It took some time for Alfred to replace this name in a context, but nation’s memories had that they could be mobilized more easily for anything concerning historical events : “I think...it was something about clonage of animals from back in the day, when it was still a sci-fi thing. But there were many projects like that, funded by wealthy people or pharmaceutical labs, and many failed and fell into oversight. What is there with this one?”

The President nodded then answered.  
“Indeed. Project DOPPELGANGER was created and funded by a certain Professor Travasco, an eminent scientist from the clonage area. He even contributed to cloning a rabbit in 1975, from what I know about him. But later, he started to collaborate with the government for a slightly different purpose, human cloning. It’s probably because of this change in direction that the project was interrupted in 1995, because of the growing concept of Bioethics you are fully aware of...”

Nothing really out of the ordinary, hummed Alfred to himself. Scientists could do pretty freaky things at the time (even experimenting on themselves!) and wouldn’t be questioned for it. It had made science progress, and at the time nations weren’t that concerned about it, as was the rest of the population. It had been like this, until the horror of human experimentation had been exposed to public awareness and Human rights associations had battled for more regulation on clinical research, specially instauring the concept of consent. All this taking birth after the 2nd World war for obvious reasons, though it took quite some time for bioethics to consolidate in the researchers’ community.   
This kind of project were legions as he told before, and they more or less died or got transformed at the end of the century.  
However, he knew that it wasn’t all there was about this peculiar project and waited for the big news to drop, hoping it wasn’t too long because he hated cliffhangers.

“Except..he didn’t really stop his activities entirely. Even without help from the government, Travasco seems to have used his own personal resources to pursue something, and I feared it’s about his project..or worse. I made investigations, and from the documents, he officially reconverted himself in studying wildlife in collaboration with Nature protectors of the White Mountain National Forest, in New Hampshire. In exchange of money, they even provided him a facility to move his lab in for such purpose.”

“Uh? And what’s bad about all that? Maybe the guy really moved on and tried to use his knowledge to study the local faune, na?” America pinpointed, still having hope and regards in every of his citizens, even the filthiest ones.

“The matter is, he used too much “resources” for the activities he claims to be pursuing. Look at the fund’s record the lab reports each year. Besides, Intels reported he has hired some former militaries and researchers as well. You might know of that eminent biologist, Professor Mattéo Bertelloni, from Italy or Professor Thomas Eiling, the neurologist that published an essay called “Biological memories” a few decades ago? They occasionally enter the zone from time to time, working with him.”

An eminent biologist and renowned neurologist hired with a bunch of ex-militaries for the cause of solving animal mysteries in a forest? Yeah, it was beyond suspicious, Alfred had to admit.  
Obama saw the frown forming on his face, and knew his country would accept his request, if not for him, for the curiosity of knowing what was really going on in here.

“ Suspicious right? But since the government has been out of his business, I can’t properly control his works nor even visit him myself, as it is, let’s say, his private properties. That’s why I called you, to ask if you could go and make an investigation by yourself. It still makes you a government representative, however, I think your “skills” to talk with people will be more successful than regular undercover agents…”

The nation smirked at the remark. How sneaky of his president, to send him off even before he had accepted. But hey, He knew him too well, and soon, Alfred released a true smile of his own, his cerulean eyes shining with determination and somehow, amusement.

“Okay, I’m gonna do this! But at one condition...let this be like vacation! No paperwork during the mission, no FBI member hiding for my security, just me chillin in the wood while spying on the mad scientist, right?”

Hehe, he loved the reaction he got from the man facing him, and knew this was going to be accepted. And that meant...he could take all his time for the mission and have some break! Oh, and he could invite Matthew and Arthur too...and Japan and Italy! Yeah, like a cool vacation with his friends!  
It was gonna be more fun than he had expected!

****

Actually, they were much more in the cars when America and his fellow nations headed to the place in question. Not that Alfred had planned China, Russia, Spain, Romano, France and Germany to come along, but let’s say that 1) China had literally begged him to help him reconciling with Japan through the whole trip, 2) Russia was like glued to China and it was impossible to dissuade him from coming and 3) France succeeded in convincing Matthew he should come and America let them tag along to his brother demand, but also because he was promised he would do the cooking, and you don’t refuse good meals when you had the occasion! Using his advantage, France invited Spain, and it gave the beautiful idea to Italy to let his brother join him (actually if he didn’t he would have been shot in the head by an angry Romano, but let’s not talk about it.)  
Among them, Germany was the only legitimate one he had accepted to add to the party, on Italy’s serious request. Behind his naive looks, Alfred knew Feliciano was worried with his best friend, as when left alone he would think about Prussia. He could only feel compassion too, and if this improvised vacation with the other immortal beings could make him a little happier, then it was good by him.

Saying this, the USA didn’t reveal anything about the mission. He was going to do it like a side shore and deal with it alone as it was concerning him only.  
But it was a great opportunity to show how manifficient his lands could be outside of civilization, Japan being the first to draw his capcon camera when the White Mountain National Forest had been reached.  
America had used a secret pass to enter the huge forest, and the 2 cars were now confronting the elements, advancing in the wild like crazy.

“Are we there yet? I’m not even sure we have the right to be here…” muttered England, wary about law infractions. Not that he never played outlaw, but it was never a good idea for a bunch of Nation to attract attention.  
Besides, America had played mysterious by not telling them exactly where they were going and that alone irritated his nerves very much.

“ Yeah! You will see, it’s like a secret hide-out!”

By secret hide-out, the nations would discover that America meant “secret secondary house”, as the arriving group would be facing an old looking wooden bungalow.

“Aru...aren’t we too numerous? I’m not a fan of having to share a room…”

“Da... I wouldn’t mind sharing it with someone, but I might crush that person in my sleep by accident…”

“Pff relax man! There’s plenty of room for us! Of course, there’s not enough bed, but hey, we’ve done worse and I’ve thought about everything! Now chill out! We’re out of society and free like birds here!”

They did actually start to enjoy the place already. It was good to be far from the modern buildings sometimes, enjoying nature a bit more...and battle for the rooms against each other like if it were territories. Some things never changed.  
The former Axis members agreed to stay united, since Germany and Italy were used to sleeping together (nobody asked why, although France would always “Honhon” hearing it) and Japan preferred sleeping on the floor like he used to with tatami.  
Alfred would sleep with Matthew, who refused to let France enter their room (he would have to put some bear traps to avoid being surprised). Instead, the french gentleman tried gluing himself to England and obtained from the british man to decide sleeping on a sofa in the living room, leaving a hamac for him alone in the basement as he let Spain share his room with Romano. China and Russia had their own sleeping bags to put in the trophy room next to the other rooms( with all the taxidermied animals, which was already kinda creepy) , and after trying changing places for 6 times, the asian abandoned the idea to escape his clingy neighbor.  
Once the rooms and emplacement had been distributed, the countries divided to explore the surroundings and fulfill their attributed tasks.

While some were eager to go hunting (America, Canada, France), some would collect woods ( Romano, Spain, Italy and Russia, find the intruder in this! ) and some would clean the place (Germany, China, Japan, England).  
With all the things to do, night came faster than expected and it was already time to cook all they had catched, as well as what they had bought (Because yeah, remember they were in a protected area, they couldn’t destroy it too much like in their wild conqueror’s time!).  
While France, Italy and China were chatting happily in the kitchen, the others were playing Uno in the living room, where a chimney had been lit for warmth.

“Counter-Uno amigo! Now take your 2 cards!” smiled Antonio to a confused Japan that didn’t even though about screaming “Uno” in the first place. Too old for fast reflex games like that, he had not won once since the beginning…. but he obediently obliged, picking the cards up.

“My turn! Sorry Ivan, but ya will have to pick cards too!” jolted the american. However, Russia didn’t seem fazed by it, and put a card over the one that was destined to him with the same symbol represented.

“Nyet, my friend! It will not be for me!” the big guy replied with the ‘Did you really think you could play me around’ plastered in his fake-innocent looking face.

“YOU FUCKING BASTARDs! I’ve so many cards and I can’t even counter this! This game is BULLSH*T!!“ yelled a very unlucky Romano, throwing his 15 cards in the air in pure anger, not enjoying being fooled around.

“I should be the one angry here…” mumbled dryly England. He had after all been evicted from the kitchen with so much undelicaty it really felt like conspiracy. And now he was playing what he though was a stupid game of luck.

“If only it was the case for me..” muttered Canada as well, who was already at only one card for several rounds ago and had the most wins because everyone forgot to take him into account.

“Could you play the game WITHOUT SCREAMING?!” pleaded an exasperated Germany who was getting a headache from all this. He was there to rest, not to revive world conferences on his break times!  
But fortunately, the game was soon stopped by the magical word “ Take your seats everyone! Dinner is coming!” voiced with all sweetness by the joyful Italian. 

“As Italy said, “A table tout le monde!” “ added Francis before putting plates on the table.  
All served themselves with the rules of America being the last one to choose, first because he was the host but also to be sure everyone would actually get something to eat, much to his dismay!  
The overall scene was one of a convivial meal with friends talking from here and there before a friendly fire. The last time they did have time like that was at Halloween, and it hadn’t been this relaxing.

But too relaxing also meant thoughts of all kinds could come back haunting your spirit, and few minds drove away as noon had past.  
Germany was looking absent-mindly at the dying fire, a beer in his hand, when Italy came to his side, his face not showing his usual goofiness.

“Ve...Are you thinking about him again?” He asked, surprising the blond man as if he had read his mind.

“I was...just thinking that he would have enjoyed being here, with all of us…”

The brunette faced his friend, before hugging his arm and laying his head on the german shoulder to comfort him.  
This move caused a chirp to be heard, and France, Spain and England froze on spot before turning their attention on the provenance of the noise.  
They had recognized him too well, and soon, Gilbird was emerging from his master’s brother's clothes to land on his hair.  
Silence ensued, before the Island country broke it, his emerald eyes gazing tiredly on his tea.

“You all can’t stay fixated on this. I’ve seen some of us disappear and you did as well. It is the circle of life, and although our lives are longer than human, at one point...we will probably all go away one day…”

The calm and comforting words of fatality weren’t lightly pronounced. Spain and France knew it too well.  
They looked at each other, and then the spanish man joined the duo, patting Germany’s shoulder.

“Inglaterra is right...Prussia wouldn’t have liked us to mourn over him. I know it is difficult, but let’s you and Gilbird take this trip to ressource and free yourself from his ghost, si?”

The german felt overwhelmed by all the kind words, and he understood something : being around people that understood you was the best way to get the warm presence that you were missing. Nations were always having quarrels, but personifications were just humans in a sense, weird humans that still seeked warmth from others.  
Determination on his look, Germany smiled softly and responded :

“Yes..you are all right. Thank you, I know it is also hard for you too.”

Spain smiled back, and left for his room where Romano was probably already sleeping.  
France, Germany and Italy did the same, leaving England in the living room, where he was to sleep.  
The wizard waited, before whispering, still looking into his tea at his own reflection with a bitter smile.

“Hehe...and it’s me, the one who can’t get past his former colonies betrayal for so long, that said that...”

***

A cold morning was to welcome them the day after that, but all nations had been prepared for the cold. (Actually, Russia didn’t, General Winter was colder in comparison)  
They were almost all eager to explore their surroundings in small groups.  
They all divided and told each other to get back before lunch. To Arthur’s surprise, America declared he wanted to go alone because he had to make sure some things were at their place since the last time he came here.  
The man didn’t question him though, as it was a chance to go with China and Japan sight seeing.

The embodiment of USA watched as the old men walked away, talking about tea, and once he was alone, directed to the depth of the wood in sneaky mode, his eyes lit with glimmer of challenge.  
Now now, he wasn’t to forget his job right? Travasco would have some worry to have once he found the entrance of the facility!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here they are finally!  
> I needed to introduce a little more the clones, as we already know the nations!  
> However, there will be parts where we follow the nations point of vue and other where it's the clone one's!
> 
> For the Uno's part, If I didn't translate everything correctly, please don't hesitate to tell me! It's not easy to do with games and expressions!


	7. The conduit

The ambiance in the facility had degraded drastically over the following weeks.  
The bloody walls and tiles had been cleaned but it didn’t mean they had disappeared from minds, and ‘I’ wasn’t the only one to have nightmares for days.  
Employees had been globally traumatized by the recent events, some leaving the floor they were working in, others going into breaks.  
An entire psychological ward had been created on the first floor, but it would be a long long work.  
However, experiments had to stay in the 2nd floor, and they had special sessions for them, which were also interviews about the event to figure out what they actually knew.

Before all this, ‘I’ was a gentle boy, naive, curious, eager to learn.A boy that would be pleased and thankful easily, a happy one that thought he was the luckiest kid in the world. Now, there was always this feeling of profound sadness and asthenia marking his traits. He wasn’t smiling anymore, was always frowning, lost in his thoughts.  
How could he when he couldn’t sleep, when the image of ‘R’ and his last words were haunting him. When the adults around him weren’t able to face him, like how Ms Miller’s forced smile. He had heard the woman crying in her office one day she didn’t know he was here.  
With all these depressing feelings around, it wasn’t really easy to breathe and he was suffocating in this atmosphere.

It wasn’t all, now the world he had always known was stranger to him. The certitude he had had been shattered before by ‘R’s words and actions, and all this repercuted on his relationship with Father.  
Father...what was he really thinking? In hindsight, he realized the scientist didn’t really seem more loving than Malsinger. Well, more gentler, but still distant with them.  
He had never understood him to begin with, yet he trusted him so much, like if he was his sun.  
The brunette had become wary of him and was always terrified to be in his presence, because he feared he would suspect him to know the truth.  
But they had to go to their check-ups and eventually today, he was in his company, as he had always.  
‘I’ tried to avoid his gaze, and refused to take his hand, but Father didn’t look surprised. In fact, he smirked at this, saying nothing and letting the kid do as he pleased.  
It’s only when they arrived before the MRI room that he suddenly start speaking :

“You want to go outside as ‘R’ told you, right?”

Only one sentence, one simple concise question which startled the child. Round amber eyes went up to face the adult’s piercing one and he noticed that Father seemed..playfull. It was the first time he had seen such expression on his usually impenetrable face.  
‘I’ stared at him even when he broke eye contact to turn his back, letting the surprised boy in the hand of the neurologist and the MRI technicians.

*******

Back to his room, ‘I’ had remained silent, concentrated.  
Their short exchange had made the copper curl boy remember about the “conduit” that ‘R’ was talking about. He didn’t know what it was, where it was, but from what he had understood...it could be a way out of here.

“Big brother ‘I’? Are you okay? “ asked ‘P’. The tiny albinos wasn’t really worried but intrigued, as his brother’s face had lit compared to before he went with Father. He was actually happy to see ‘I’ getting out of his gloomy looks and curious about it at the same time.  
They both looked at each other and if the older boy seemed to hesitate, he finally confessed, inviting him to sit near on the bed and whispering to his ears by fear of the cameras.

“‘P’...You remember what ‘R’ told us.? He talked about a conduit. I want to find it.”

The red eyes widened at the idea, and an excited smile soon plastered the little one.

“Oww, we are going outside??!”

“Shh ‘P’! Quiet! The adults mustn't learn this…”

‘I’ disobeying was something so surprising that the 5 year-old frowned. The brunette regretted immediately having talked to him. Not that ‘P’ wasn’t a great confidant and couldn’t keep a secret, but he was too innocent yet to be involved.  
‘I’ loved his brother the most, as well as ‘R’ did for ‘C’, and since the death of the 2 others, his goal was to protect him and may be...Free him. But he couldn’t put him in danger or else, they might be separated and he wouldn’t stand it.  
That’s why he paused, faced the pale kid and put his hands on his shoulders before telling him in a serious tone :

“ ‘P’. Listen ok, it is very important. Very very. The conduit might be our way out here, to see the outside, but I don’t know where he can be and if it goes to the right place. If you find it, you have to tell me and….I will be the one going first, alone.”  
The small child grimaced at this and started whining.

“But I wanna go with you…”

“I know, me too ‘P’! But it’s too dangerous! What if they punish us if we fail? You don’t want to be punished don’t you? That’s why I will go first to explore and be sure everything is ok. But I will be back for you, I promise!”

‘P’ nodded slowly to this, but deception was painted all over his face, breaking ‘I’s heart a little. He had never talked to him like this before, they had never argued about anything.  
The slightly longer arms hugged the albinos tightly, and ‘I’ whispered.

“I promise you ‘P’.”

*******

Eventually, his baby brother made up his mind and took his mission at heart. ‘I’ had shown him what a conduit’s entrance looked like, as there was one in their room. But that one was unattainable.  
So they searched, with more or less consciousness, each time they were to walk outside of their room and especially in places where the deceased boy had been.  
Which was hard since the security had been enforced and some halls and corridors had been closed, like the toilet where Malsinger’s body had been found.

And by security enforcement, it seemed there was now always a pair of guards before the room they were in.  
There were two rooms that were the most likely to contain the passage : the Playroom and the Study room, as they had been common to all the experiments.  
But even when they had more free time to search, they didn’t find it. All the entrances they were finding were too high or small, and ‘I’ was starting to be desperate to find it after all, as one week had passed since then.  
In all evidence, the conduit wasn’t in a segment they were allowed to access, and with the guards and the agents that were to monitor them, there was no way they could sneak a little without being noticed. 

The depressive appearance ‘I’ was displaying didn’t escape Ms Miller’s look, and one day, she invited him in her small office as she would sometimes when she wanted to talk in private.  
Normally, it happened when she was making them official testing for the study. Sometimes, she would even offer them some drinks, let them draw.  
That day, it was to cheer the boy up.   
‘I’ sat at the usual place, on the wooden chair, one of the only one he ever saw in his life. The room itself wasn’t made for an office, but the teacher was put there and she had to adapt it herself, making it cosy, odd looking compared to the rest of the building. There were more stimulating objects from the exterior, wall of a deep green, even some posters and photos of Ms Miller’s family, along with a lot of papers, toys and other trinkets that were gifts.  
Even the air sensed differently here, like a mix of old parchment and paint.  
‘I’ really enjoyed that comforting place, and entering it did make him relax, although he wasn’t sure he could trust Ms Miller.  
She seemed however so honest and clueless sometimes, he wondered what she actually knew about all this.  
The brown haired woman with a ponytail sat on the other side of the office, smiling gently to him and started to speak.

“How are you feeling ‘I’? I know it has been quite difficult lately, and sad. I’m sad too, I can’t even imagine that ‘R’...did what he did..”

To his relief, she seemed to think his low morale was only due to the murder cases. Well, she wasn’t completely wrong, but he was passing through this more than she was thinking. He didn’t correct her though, looking down at his feet.

“You know..for me you are all like my second children. I wished I could invite ‘C’ more often here, like I did with you, ‘R’ and ‘P’...If I can do anything for you, just tell me and..I will try to convince the administration to do so.”

How he wished it was this simple! He so wanted to ask if they could go visit the outside world, but he couldn’t phrase anything. He had to keep it a secret, even if he hated to hide something to the sweet woman who had seen him grow.  
Seeing he was still silent, Ms Miller tried another approach :

“How about I make you a good hot chocolate like you love it? Don’t move from here, I’m bringing a cup for you!”

She stood up, and exited the room, passing the security agents who closed the door, leaving the kid alone. He knew she was going to the employee’s restroom and that she would take about 10 minutes to do so, so he stood up and started looking at all the funny objects, at the same time trying to find something useful.  
And suddenly, he found it. It was just right there, the entrance to an old conduit just above a shelf he had never noticed before.  
The place was indeed from the ancient part of the batiment and hadn’t been restored. It was high, but it seemed possible to climb the shelf to access it.

Heart pulsing in his chest, the amber eyes went to the door before the child rushed to there, starting to climb the decorative shelf with precaution not to knock down objects on here.  
Being smaller than ‘R’, the conduit’s entrance arrived at the level of his head and shoulders.  
The fence was originally fixed with four screws, but there was only one remaining.  
With hurry, the boy grabbed it with his finger and tried to remove it, but it was still harder than he thought.   
No, he couldn’t fail there, right? Maybe in this place he would find something to remove the screw, even if all sharp objects had been removed….  
But he wouldn’t need that, as the brunette found the trick : he had to actually slip it with a little strength to lower the fence.  
Here it was, the exit. He would almost cry at his discovery. Maybe ‘R’ had waited for this special occasion with Ms Miller to remove the screws, and slide into it.  
Though, it would be quite narrow for the big guy.

Now that he had discovered the entrance, ‘I’ replaced the fence as it was, and got down as fast but discreet as he could. He had taken too long to actually go in there, and Ms Miller was to come back in one minute at most.  
The occasion wasn’t now….but it would come soon.  
When the woman came back, ‘I’ was having conflicted feelings about nervousness and excitement he tried not to show. Fortunately, she wasn’t as sharp as Father to detect lies.

“Here! Hope I wasn’t too long! Be careful, it’s still a little hot!”

He accepted gratefully the hot cocoa chocolate and finally smiled back at his teacher, as he was celebrating his success.

Now, he couldn’t wait for the next time!


	8. The escape

Patient, ‘I’ had to remain patient. He couldn’t really choose a day to be invited in the office, he couldn’t be too suspicious or it would fail for sure. And he knew he would only have one try and no coming back.  
‘P’ had wanted to be useful and promised he would try to do a diversion if he could.  
The plan was such as : ‘I’ being invited in Ms Miller’s office. Her going to make him some drink or be called for something, well anything to make her leave the room long enough for him to go into the conduit.   
For the next part of the plan, well... he hadn’t thought about ALL of it. Let’s remember he was only 8 and although he was quite intelligent for his age, the kid couldn’t think of everything right?  
What he had thought of was once in the conduit, he would try to take ways to go upstairs, as the boys discovered, after asking innocently, that they were actually underground. You might think it was strange for them not to know, but when you had lived underground all your life, how would you?  
He would later try to find the escape to the outside and then come back in some other ventilation conduit to search for his brother. He had the vague idea to bring a rope and open the fence in their room for example. Some wacky ideas like that he was really believing into. Or….. why not by the same entrance if he wasn’t caught? That was unlikely to happen, but hey, he could still dream right?

The occasion presented itself one late morning. That day, in the Playroom, ‘P’ was playing with the unmanned helicopter he had received from Ms Miller after the holidays and ‘I’ was intentionally not doing much. It was boring, but he needed to look as depressed as possible to get the ‘interview’ he wished for.  
And the fishhook got bitten that day. The woman who was monitoring them half while reading a book shut it down and got up, walking toward ‘I’.

“‘I’ are you ok? You look pale, do you want me to call the doctor or your daddy?”

The boy gave the most pathetic face he could and shook his head, bobbling his curl. 

“...Ok then, how about coming to my office? I can’t bring you two inside because of...Well the security rules, but I will let you ‘P’ with my nice colleague when I see your brother, ok?”

The albinos nodded before going back to his game, exchanging a secretive look with his brother. It was starting right now, at the moment ‘I’ woke up and left, hand in his teacher’s.

The operation had begun.

*****

The way it went was slightly different than what he had expected. First, his nervousness was multiplied by ten if not more and his stomach was ashing, making his act more believable which was a good thing, but at the same time encountering the risk Ms Miller would call for a doctor instead.  
That’s why ‘I’ did his best to relax, breath the air in the office.

“So tell me, what is it ‘I’? I told you if you needed to talk about it, don’t hesitate ok? Do you want me to appoint you to the mister psychologist you’ve seen before?”

“No Ms Miller, it’s ok. I’m sorry, it’s just that I still don’t sleep very well, and I’m a little tired...Do you think I could uhm...sleep in your office?”

“Oh, I understand, but why in my office? Wouldn’t it be better in your room with the bed?”

Urg, not the brightest excuse that came off his mind. Now, he had to embroider this and use his imagination, the fastest he could.

“I...it’s just, I can’t sleep well in my room because...it’s all similar to my previous ones and...I think about what happened all the time...the blood all over over, ‘R’......and...And I can’t sleep well in the Playroom too, i’ve tried before...And...they...Father and the doctors won’t let me go to another room... ”

Despite the uttered shaky excuses, the woman had the reaction he expected and, to his relief, didn’t go too deep in exploring his story. 

“..Oww, I understand ‘I’. I can’t let you sleep for hours, but how about… 20-30 minutes? As long as there is a security agent before the room and as long as you don’t mess around, they will let me do this, don’t worry!  
You just have to promise me to behave, right ‘I’?”

The boy gulped, starting to feel guilty. This kind of liberties even after what happened to Dr Malsinger was proof the woman had complete faith in him, and it broke his heart to deceive her that way. But he had no choice, it was the chance of a lifetime!

“Yes, I promise Ms Miller.” he finally said with an innocent tone.

*****

The sweet woman didn’t leave him on a chair, but put her 2 chairs side by side to form a small bed. Not the most comfortable, but enough for a 8 year-old boy to be able to lie down.  
He then waited for her to bring a pillow and a sheet.  
When she was about to leave, fearing her to shut the light and him not being able to see, he asked her if she had a light for him, saying he didn’t want to stay in complete darkness.  
Because his plan didn’t involve escaping in the dark, yes?  
She fortunately agreed to this and lit a small lamp she had on her office. She then wished him a good nap and finally left.

‘I’ couldn’t believe his idea would pay, but he had succeeded to buy much more time than he intended by inventing these insomniac excuses!  
He waited a few minutes to be sure his teacher wasn’t coming back before sneaking out of his makeshift bed and hurrying to climb the shelf again.  
Removing the rusty fence without making noises to alert the security agents was challenging, but he managed to create the opening and didn’t hesitate: he went right into the conduit.  
He lifted back the fence behind him the best he could, to at least not spoil away his way of exit, although it would not need a genius to figure where he had left.

And now, he was faced with the unknown, and one thing was sure, he didn’t think about the darkness he would meet there. It’s not like he had a lamp to bring, but maybe he could have asked for a luminous toy, anything. It was too late to go search for one though.  
To be fair, it wasn’t complete darkness, as the conduit would give opening to other rooms, some being lit.  
It helped his eyes to adapt to the obscurity and to notice that ‘R’ had actually entered the conduit before him, leaving a trail of what seems to be rust.  
The tall boy didn’t manage to go very far because of an obvious lack of time, but he had left a few meters away an instrument : an old rusty tube of metal.   
The brunette wondered if he had intended to trace his way in the labyrinth that was forming before him, so he could have escaped more efficiently. But the deceased boy never had the time to even go further.

‘I’ took the metal bar with him, as it could be handy to open the screws, and went further and further in the conduits maze.  
Often, his way was a dead end and he had to go back. Sometimes, there was no light and he also went back, preferring to find a conduit for the upper area with eye’s sight available. Because well, darkness was kinda scary too.  
Numerous times he had discovered conduits that would go down, meaning there were more underground floors below them. And from these conduits, he had perceived faint strange noises. There was of course the usual metal, materials being moved by machines, but behind this mechanical sounds, growls and screams could be heard. From living beings. Living beings ‘I’ knew nothing about as he was pretty sure they weren’t human.  
It gave him chills down his spine and he had decided to avoid these conduits at all cost.

He did also find conduits to the upper floor, but would be blocked by height. The walls were too smooth for him to climb.  
But finally, he found one, in more darker places, that would gradually go up instead.  
He climbed again, his hands and clothes dirtied by dust and went to face a steam of hot air.  
The first floor was globally more luminous than the second, and there seemed to be a lot of activities there. ‘I’ wondered if Father was working here all day.  
He was hearing sounds of conversation from here and there, and had to wait sometimes so he could pass without being noticed,as the fences could expose him.  
At the same time, he was a little curious about that place, and sneaked peeks from here and there.

There were staff rooms first, one lit for some guy in white gown talking with some others, sometimes wearing more casual colorful clothes ‘I’ had never seen and badges.  
‘I’ wondered if it was a way to identify them, like for his collar.  
Other rooms seemed to be labs, and at one point, he saw a storage place for bulbs full of the serum ‘R’ and ‘C’ were regularly injected with. People were presently preparing some, and the smell that was coming in the ventilation was neither good or bad. It smelled mainly chemical.  
The laboratory’s assistants were talking and the kid succeeded to grasp some words.

“...serum….Still difficult to make……”

“....really needed..?...Number 3 and 6 ...Stable..”

“......the 4th floor …. need them…..crazy woman……. like in horror movies…”

“..Shh...higher ups...Pr Arko...lesc and...Travasco’s…...military purpose...…dogs, rats...….Wait be careful, only 3 drops of compound C for the mixture, not more!”

Even if he was intrigued by the first part, the discussion became too technical for him. Besides, he didn’t have time for this and pursued his goal to go further above, but couldn’t find a conduit to lead him up, no matter how long he searched.  
His heart became heavy with the thought that he was trapped there, and that at any seconds, they could find him.  
But he didn’t slack off, and searched for a room where the light was shut off.  
And as he did, the hot air became colder at some point. Something told him to follow the cold instead of fleeing it, and he proceeded until he found a molded fence where cold air was leaking. Mold, like in photos of the outside.  
It could mean only one thing, right? He didn’t know how, but it was the exit!

The little experiment used the metal bar ‘R’ had left for him to try lift the screws, and it took its time but the fence finally gave away, leading into what seemed to be a cave. Half a cave actually , as there were rays of light signalling it was open above.  
‘I’ needed adaptation to this new environment, his eyes not used to the sunlight, but his fascination took over and he let himself slide from the fence and fall on the molded rocks.  
He touched with his hand, his eyes open, his nose sniffing with intensity. It was so overwhelming that if he wasn’t a fugitive at the moment, he would have passed hours in here, feeling the roughness of nature.

Splashing into the small river that was flowing beneath him, he followed it, until facing the base of a cliff. He could see huge trees above, and the sky, the real sky!  
The rocks seemed to make a pass he was able to climb, as if there had been a floor once which collapsed at some point. Maybe way before the facility was built.  
Using the trees’ roots, ‘I’ made his way to the surface, which was even more stimulating for his brain to take than what he had seen in the cave.  
Nature was everywhere, wild,with so much variation of green he couldn’t have imagined inside of his white, barren room.  
‘I’ eventually started to cry at all this magnificence. How much he would give for ‘P’ to see it too, he was already missing his brother so much but he needed time to hide, and then retrieve him. Maybe if he could seek help outside?   
Bare feet started to run in the grass now that he was on the surface. He had to find someone, and most importantly, to hide far from his former home before they catched him!

*****

He ran and ran until he couldn’t breathe anymore, falling against a trunk, in between his huge roots. How long had he ran, he couldn’t tell, but it felt like miles away.  
He didn’t hear anything indicating someone was chasing after him and relaxed a little, until he heard footsteps and people talking.

Mixed feelings welcomed this news : there were people here but….what if it was employees of the facility?  
‘I’ didn’t really want to go check, but he had no choice, he had to be brave.  
Slowly, he walked behind trees reaching for the noises, all effort to avoid being seen.  
And one tree after, the individuals talking were at reach for his eyes.  
There were 2 men. One being dark haired and with almond eyes, and the other with blond hair, green eyes and...oh wow….what the hell was those huge eyebrows. Heck he didn’t even know it could grow that big!  
The pair was talking in english for the most part, but sometimes switching to a language he couldn’t decipher. Since they weren’t wearing white, he assumed they were not working with Father.  
His lips trembled a bit. It appeared he was shy with strangers and even in his dire situation, it was difficult to move. What if he made a mistake by revealing himself?

“Hey!! Japan, England, wait for us!!!”

Another voice made all ideas to move vanished from him, and the boy retracted on himself. The sudden call had startled him, but what really shocked him was the source of this voice.  
‘I’ froze in place when he saw a brunette with a curl rushing to the ones named after countries, then hide behind the tree, eyes almost out of his sockets and jaw open.  
That man looked EXACTLY like an older version...of himself. Clones, countries...The truth struck him harder than he thought he would react: He was the clone of this man. Supposed to be a copycat.

And now, he didn’t know what to do.  
He fell on his buttocks, back against the living wood. There was no way the exact people he would be the clone of would be there. How was that possible? Why was fate going after him relentlessly? Or...what if it wasn’t a coincidence? What if they had heard of him and were searching after him?  
Would they hate him? Would they hurt him?

‘I’ stayed like that, paralyzed by a turmoil of emotions and questions about what was the right choice to make, and eventually, the group of 4 people, turned their back to him and went away.  
Even after noises of forest’s life came back to normal, ‘I’ was still lost as ever.

He never had the impression to be useless, to not be needed, because nobody would make him feel that way.  
But encountering his counterpart made him feel superfluous somehow.  
This time, it was tears of sadness and loneliness that blurred his eyes. He wanted to be back with ‘P’ and forget the idea to go outside, he regretted everything. He was so scared.  
But still, he remembered his promise to the albinos and stood up, walking again like a zombie, a shadow of himself.  
He was so preoccupied with his thought that he didn’t hear the discrete footsteps behind him, and what would happen….happened.  
He felt pain behind his neck, and his hand just had the time to feel the dart before he suddenly got sleepy and fell on the ground.  
2 soldiers approached and took him off, back to where he shouldn’t have escaped….


	9. A forest trip

The eleven nations were taking their break with relative seriousness.  
Germany awakened Italy and Japan out of habit for running at 5h30th a.m., and succeeded partially since Italy fled at high speed the exercise, so far that he decided to run after him to avoid his clumsy friend to get lost.  
This arranged Japan’s case since the buffed country forgot about him, and he could quietly return to bed instead while internally thanking the italian.

Later,Spain and France prepared breakfast to everyone's pleasure, and even Arthur took a bite at it, pooting half-heartedly.   
America proposed a baseball game and everyone refused except for poor Canada, who couldn’t escape his brother's grip. Mapple! He knew he was going to have a bad time!  
Russia was more thrilled at the idea to meet with some bears and Canada (and Kumajiro who felt somehow a little concerned about it) tried to tell him they were protected species to avoid the poor creatures to have to face the determined russian, but the tall man was already taking the direction of the mountain. China had offered to follow him and stop him for doing anything reckless...to the bears obviously.  
After breakfast, England and Japan walked together in the morning, talking like the old men they were about everything, while France was supporting from afar his former colony with an amused smile.  
Spain was tracking off Romano, who had left quickly to take some break from him (or maybe because he wanted to be found by him like in a game, though he would never admit it out loud).

And finally were left Germany and Italy, who took another pass in the woods.  
The italian was loud as always, talking and talking, not once interrupted by his travel partner, who had stopped listening anyway.

“Ve! This place is incredible! It reminds me a little of the Middle-age when everything was still wild. Forests weren’t that easy to travel in, and it was scary to fight there when burglars could jump on you from the trees…. Oh, a river, do you want to bathe in?”

“No sorry! I already took my shower this morning...and it’s kind of cold here. But indeed, this area has something refreshing…”

“Oh ok….How about a siesta then?”

The blond looked at him, and then…,agreed.

“Yes... let’s do that! It’s been a while since I could do one without thinking about work..or something else.”

And both decided to lie down on the grass, relaxing and closing their eyes.

*****

“England….England!”

Arthur and Kiku were still quietly walking on what seemed to be a natural pass, the former helping the other to spot animals for photos, when the british man looked at Flying Mint Bunny. Normally, he would avoid talking to him in the presence of someone, but Japan was a close friend that was...used to his strange monologues, and so he replied.

“Yes, what is it my friend?”

His smile went down a little as he saw the magic bunny ears up, fixing something to his right.

“I’m feeling something...weird….I can’t explain it, but it’s coming from here...could you go see what it is? Since we aren’t in your country, I can’t really wander on my own.”

Raising his eyebrows, England still interrupted Japan’s track and told him they could try going at the direction his magical friend had talked about, promising there would be interesting birds. Actually, the forest was huge and the asian didn’t care much about where to go so he obliged, his mind focused on his camera and on the animals he was going to capture with a ‘tourist habit’ of his.  
Walking toward their new goal, the blond dishevelled man was getting curious, as Flying Mint Bunny sometimes would stop on his track, then proceed in a direction and suddenly, turn to another.

“ So..are you sensing it again? Is it magic? Could you try explaining it to me?”

Flying Mint Bunny flew above his head, and stopped on the air, still searching, sniffing like a dog would. He didn’t look very thrilled by what he was receiving and expressed that.

“No..and yes. It’s a little like...how to explain….I don’t want to sound alarming since it’s probably nothing but... It’s like I’m sensing one of ‘you’ very, very faint but when I try to identify the source, it disappears…..I need all my concentration to even capture it when it’s there....”

“One of us? Maybe it’s Italy or Germany you’re sensing, they didn’t take a way too far from here.” shrugged England.

“No… I can sense them two clearly, and it’s not....besides, the scent is getting closer to us from the opposite direction….”  
Having been in his presence for so long, Flying Mint Bunny had gotten very skilled in identifying presence and recognizing creatures and magical beings.  
And he would rarely make mistakes, so for him to say there was a scent from a country he couldn’t pinpoint was to be taken seriously. Maybe there was a new nation over there! But even if he were to meet one, there was no way he would make it his colony...Seeing the political environment.

“Arthur-san? Are you sure we’re taking the good path? Why did we turn there and then suddenly turned back? Are we by any chance lost?” Japan began to worry. He was so focused on his hobby that he didn’t look much on the way they crossed so far.

“Oh well don’t worry about it! We’re near, that’s what my fellow Flying Bunny told me!”

Ah yes, his imaginary friend! How reassuring! Japan played along for now because he didn’t want to return empty-handed, but wasn’t going to let England take the lead too long.

“It’s near!! Almost there!” informed Flying mint bunny, getting excited as the small impulse he was feeling was approaching.  
England too was getting eager to find it, and started searching around with as much effort as Japan was to find his birds.  
But before they could find their treasure, the loud voice of Italy disrupted their track, followed by an exasperated Germany.

“Feliciano! How many times did I tell you to use our aliases and to not scream in the forest!”

“Ve...sorry Ger..Luddy! But there’s no human around here!”

“How many times indeed Feliciano! One of my friends was just about to tell me something important and…”

“And you’ve chased away the birds I wanted to photograph them Feliciano-san…”

“Vee...sorry sorry!” apologized the clumsy brunette, wriggling in all directions to express his discomfort of being reprimanded.  
Germany rejoined them and indicated with a finger the opposite direction.

“Anyway, we should head back or we will be late for lunch. And Feliciano promised to cook pasta with his brother.”

“Oh that’s right!! Pasta!! You will see I will make the best italian dishes!!”

Actually, the german had some energetic bars on him, he was a forward-looking nation, but behind his hurry was that he wanted to avoid Romano to make a fuss about his brother's absence. It may have not been apparent, but the elder brother could become a pen in the *** for the rest of his vacations if he wanted. And he would prefer not!  
The group agreed and the four nations headed back, England trailing behind as the Axis was reunited and talking with each other.

“Sorry England. It seemed to disappear for good this time. I’m under the impression it is hiding from us…”

“Hiding? If he’s a newborn nation, he shouldn’t be able to do that on purpose…”

“I don’t know, I’ve not traveled much outside of your territory when sensing new born nation you know..”

“That’s true.”

The blond green eyes shot a last glance at the trees, but seeing that nothing moved and that the other had moved forward, he abandoned and fastened his pace.

*****

That night, England was thoughtful during dinner, and France, knowing him better than anyone else (except his brothers but that was another story) noticed it.

“So England? What with this look? Perhaps you don’t like my cuisine, uhm?”

“That’s not that...and I’m not, Frog! I mean, it’s edible at most!”

Well, he couldn’t talk about Flying Mint Bunny in front of the others or he would pass for crazy, as always.  
He prefered bickering a little with the annoying french instead, not attracting attention, and it worked perfectly…or that is what he had thought.  
Because after France, there was another person that would notice the imperceptible details, and even England wouldn’t have guessed who.  
It’s only way after lunch, when everyone went to their room and Arthur started to read a book before sleeping, that he sensed the two sharp ceruleans orb on him.

“What is it America? You don’t want me to tell you tales to help you sleep uhm?” the gentleman asked without leaving the book from his eyes.

“Yeah well actually...what was France talking about there? I know you’re hiding something old man!”

How on Earth could the superpower nation have been able to actually listen to his environment was a complete mystery for the former empire.  
The reason was however, quite simple. America was using the nations he had invited to gather information on the area and was, especially now, very observant of the others.  
That was how, but the young country wasn’t going to reveal that!  
Anyway, he became insistent, and, since it was a news that could actually have an impact on him, England abdicated.

“You’re so stubborn sometimes but actually...it might concern you. My...magical friend has sensed something today and it might be a new nation, although I’m not so sure of that. It was really faint and different from us.”  
America deadpanned at that, and a silence ensued before he tapped the older man on his shoulders and laughed.

“Hahaha! Your imaginary friend told you there was another nation around? In the middle of a national forest in MY place were no one's lives? Man, you should really stop the scotch a bit, no wonder you’re hallucinating!”

Several shades of red passed on England’s face before he angrily barked back with his usual “You Bloody git!”, throwing away his book at the american face.  
It was so much fun to see the british man getting mad, even if America knew it wasn’t a good idea anymore to stay around.  
And so, he waved a cheeky good night before turning around and going to his room.

Now, the laughter had stopped and his face had become somewhat serious, his smile becoming bestial. Actually, he did believe England, this man had a hunch for things (even if there was no way he had some unicorns and fairies in his garden), and what he discovered right now didn’t make him happy.  
It was more serious than he had first though. Professor Travasco was possibly studying nations for a few decades now and may be that what sensed his President when he sent him here.  
But now, it was over, America swore. He didn’t have time to chill while exploring the area and find information here and there anymore.

Tomorrow, he would go dig up the matter himself.

In the other bed of the room, his twin brother felt the intense determination of his brother, but decided to ignore it for today and question him later.

In the wooden corridor leading to his room, a pair of purple eyes observed suspiciously his last moves, before getting in his sleeping bag too.


	10. Experiments

The sleeping beauty took his time to emerge from dreamland, but eventually did. For a few minutes, he was back in his room on a regular day, with his brother looking over him with worried eyes, trying to wake him up by rubbing his arms.  
But ‘I’ didn’t want to, he was still feeling groggy, and rejected his brother’s hand, turning to the other side.  
It took him a few minutes to be able to keep his eyes open, and to suddenly remember everything. His head though felt like it weighed a ton.

“ Big brother! Are you hurt somewhere? You were sleeping a lot…”

“...”

“Big brother ‘I’?”

“...’P’...I..I was in the...outside...”

Now, adrenaline was starting to flow in his veins as panic grew inside his chest. He had been caught! It was that easy for them to retrieve him….and now what? What were they gonna do about him?  
The brunette turned to ‘P’ and hugged his brother tightly against him, and it felt like he was doing his farewells. But then something didn’t add up and he parted from the albinos.

“Wait...why would they let me be in our room with you?”

“Mm…” 

The youngest one seemed to think. To be honest he was just happy that his brother had returned and didn’t ask himself those detailed questions!

“Father! I think Father told the other misters it was better that we stay both together! But ‘I’...he told me the misters were REALLY mad at you this time!”

The brunette gulped at the thought. No clearly, he was to face a severe punishment and not knowing what kind was killing him.  
Before he could think of all the horrors awaiting from him, a knock surprised the two boys.  
They probably saw him waking up on the cameras.

And now, security agents and a harsh looking man in military clothes were asking him to follow them…

****

“These guards are clowns and we’re in a circus!!!” yelled Professor Arkonlavesc, blue thunderbolts jolting out of her eyes, making almost all the head around the wooden table lower to look at it and if possible, fuse with it.

“To even remotely think, after all that happened this last month, that one of our most precious experiments, a 8 year old child at this, would ESCAPE from here!!! When WE apply rules, they have to be FOLLOWED, no exception included and certainly not by a pretty nobody woman taking her maternal ways around!!!“

Silence ensued. Not half of the scientists here had anything to do with it, but it was difficult to not feel concerned about this accident. Another one.  
It was growing ridiculous how everything was escaping their control for no logical reason. And God knows scientists hated what wasn’t logical!  
Only a small old bearded man seemed to be able to face the fury, although he also seemed quite furious about the situation, as some could witness his claw clenching and his hands scratching the wood.

“Yes, you’re right Nina, this is quite insubordinate, and Ms Miller will be fired without delay, as well as the inexperienced security members to replace them with trained soldiers instead . We definitely made a mistake by hiring amateurs...They might be children, but they proved to be more cautious than we thought. Maybe you were too lenient with them, Doctor Kästner…But what worries me are the individuals wandering in the woods Brodman’s men spotted. I’ve heard that they recognized one to look like Number 3.”

Hushed voices suddenly filled the room, mutters about it being a personification and that they could be discovered by the government and others thinking it was impossible for this country to be here. 

“ Professor Travasco, if I may...it is impossible for the personification of Italy to be here. I mean, why would he, of most people, be here? That’s too much of a coincidence for me..”

"Coincidence! Let’s talk about coincidences! How did Number 3 find the exact conduit that was weakened only 2 weeks after he met with Number 2? Why would he want to escape now? There is no coincidence : Number 2 talked to him and I don’t know what he told him, but Number 3 had hidden it in our face all this time to prepare for this!” spatted Arkonlavesc, that was far away from having finished with the matter.  
The men in the woods would have to wait.

“And now, what do we do with him? Because as you may all know, this long time making the clones study is for them to awaken their country memories or whatever theory Professor Eiling has in mind!”

At this the neurologist coughed, taking offence about how they were talking about the study of his life! It was already sufficient that this mess was greatly affecting it!  
But as he was going to prove, he wouldn’t be baffled too long by the setback.

“I know you don’t believe in my theories, your only interest is to make weapons or find regenerative properties for your barbaric purposes! But I didn’t devote my life to the study of these personification’s cells holding memories for it to be cancelled by this kind of detail. Contrary to Number 5, Number 3 is perfectly stable. I wanted to avoid it, but I can try to activate his cell’s memory using the electromagnetic waves we used for the development of all our experiments. We have already different results on the animals and when he was an embryo but never on a stable grown subject, it might just be the answer to connect the cells to the land….”

For the first time, Doctor Kästner seemed to lose his cool, sending daggers at his colleague with murder attends, before replying drily.

“Excuse me? Professors, I know you’re really eager to fasten the pace of our research, but if we accelerate too much the process, it might disturb ‘I’s metabolism and thus make him unstable. All the animals that eventually underwent this didn’t last long. Would you really lose another experiment like this?”

That was a rare sight, seeing the usually imperturbable scientist getting annoyed and it surprised everyone in the room. But if you thought about it, he was Number 3’s creator, so it was normal he would be touchy about any project involving him.  
This advocacy was directed at Pr Travasco himself. Both Eiling and Kästner were waiting for his decision to make law.  
And the old dishevelled man listened, then eventually settled the matter.

“Dr Kästner, as a scientist myself, I know that having someone else interacting with our experiments is quite frustrating and you are right about the risk. However, Number 3 will be difficult to convince after what happened, and we can’t afford losing our time if he doesn’t behave. Besides, if Eiling succeeds, it will be a major progress in Project DOPPLEGANGER...And I will still be alive to see it!”

A knowing grin was born on Pr Eiling’s face, while Dr Kästner slowly closed his eyes, in defeat. He had no choice after all, he may have been the one experimenting, and even bringing a sample of Prussia’s DNA collected by his grand-father for the project, Travasco was the one funding everything.  
He had no word to say, except agreeing.

The staff talked about other smaller matters after that, and then was dismissed, excitement in the air.   
No one came to argue with the only remaining ‘Father’ as he was heading to his office. The man was thinking about Dr Malsinger and what he had told ‘I’ about him not being free about his decisions. Ironically, even with the good praises, he wasn’t much more than him.

That’s what he thought about all his way back, a bitter smile on his face.

******

‘I’ looked at the mean man before him, lowering his head as much as he could. It felt like he was scolded and judged like a criminal, amplified by the feeling no one would save him.  
He had been interrogated about how he escaped and what he saw outside. This time, they would expect him to lie, so he didn’t, except for the part when he met his counter-part. He just wasn’t specific about it, saying he would see people in the forest and hide from them.  
However, they had verified by all means that he didn’t actually go talk to them, revealing their location, and it took about five promises to finally get them to trust him.

The man wasn’t a professor or a psychiatrist like before, he wasn’t wearing a white coat. No, he was a soldier, like the one who brought him here, with scars on his hands, a formal uniform, and scary strict looks. When he moved, ‘I’ would recoil, fearing he would hit him to obtain what he wanted.

For what seemed to be hours, ‘I’ was responding to his questions, until finally, after a suffocating silence, he let him go.   
The boy almost fled from his chair, but there weren't the same employees anymore and all the men and women that were keeping an eye on him gave off the same feeling as his interviewer.  
His home had become completely stranger to him, and he bitterly thought it was his fault.   
Worst, Ms Miller had lost her job, and he had lost the occasion to ever see her again.  
If he wanted to face her though...he didn’t know.

Now, surrounded by one woman and a man wearing uniforms too, he moved in the corridor and turned left.   
To his dismay, they weren’t returning him to his room, but near the medical department of the 2nd floor, few rooms not far of the MRI, in a place he never had been before.  
Waiting for him was Professor Eiling, standing near a kind of machine and a metal bed in the middle. The clone was pushed toward him, and he fumbled before the professor, who acknowledged his presence.

“Ah perfect! Number 3 is here! Please install him comfortably and prepare the materials!”

Immediately, some nurses came to him to install him on the metal bed, some smiling and talking at him to comfort him.  
It was nice to be treated gently again after the walls of glass he had faced since his come back in the facility, but this didn’t answer the question of what they were going to do to him.  
And if he was used to the giant metal ring taking pictures of his brain frequently, he didn’t like the curved metal pieces at his right and left. The bed was also very rough, and he understood that it wasn’t one to sleep on.

The preparation took another eternity. He had been put on a drip, taken some blood samples, but the strangest was the electrodes they would put at a peculiar spot on precise points all over his body, some connected to a beeping machine….and on his brain. To proceed, they had no choice than to remove his hair short beforehand, so at the end, the poor child was almost bald.  
He didn’t know why but it’s at this exact moment, when they had started shaving his head and he saw his curl falling, that he started to cry and beg for them not to do it.  
They tried to reassure him, saying it would grow back, but the boy was inconsolable, and would bury his face in his hands until they would manage to put all the electrodes on.  
Then, he had to put himself still on the bed and when he saw the oxygen mask, he started to struggle.  
He knew for having experimented before that it wasn’t oxygen they were going to put, but some gas to stun him just the exact amount, the exact amount to let them do whatever they wanted of him. And generally, to be put at this, it was going to be painful!

The small body wiggled with all the force he could, screaming and trying to hit every person approaching in despair, but they were too numerous and strong, and after breathing, he started to relax and felt himself go away. At the same time, he felt the liquid from the drip pouring in his veins, making him lose all trace of fear...for the moment.

The preparation had taken quite some time, as Professor Eiling was still checking the machine he had elaborated after years of research and huge fundings. It had been tested on countless animals, but for Number 3, he wanted it to be perfect and the least traumatic.  
Eventually, he entered the room, checked the state of ‘I’ and examined him. The boy would move his sleepy eyes on him but couldn’t proceed exactly what he was doing.

“Alright, let’s put the contention and the belt for him not to move during the process. Prepare the preservation serum near the drip so we can inject him fast if we need too…..I think I didn’t forget anything, so everyone, leave the room once you’re done.”

In a few minutes, the coordinate team left ‘I’ alone, attached in the room. They couldn’t make him breath the gas too long, but the morphin was at full effect.  
Professor Eiling was behind a glazed mirror ‘I’ couldn’t see through, observing him and giving command to his operators.

“Let’s put him at the lowest frequency to start, then we will increase it little by little until he reacts to it. We will see if we can put him at the highest we’ve observed on the other subjects.”

The experiment began just as the words were pronounced.   
‘I’ didn’t feel anything at first, just incredibly fuzzy from the effect of the medication, but as they increased the frequency, he could sense like if the metal curves were vibrating around him and making his body vibrate too.  
A little, then much more and that’s when he started to feel sick and tried to move.  
Have you ever been on a car travelling over a gravelled and chapped road? It was that kind of feeling, except it was happening inside of him, something specifically terrifying. His heart, his head were trembling, pulsating in an unnatural way and it was getting worse any seconds passed inside. It wasn’t strictly speaking painful, but maybe he would have prefered this rather than feeling this horrible unknown feeling that was giving him nausea.  
Even the morphine wouldn’t stop this growing discomfort, and he tried to move again with limited strength.  
The scope was starting to bip as his heart beat increased in fast tempo, the EEG’s needles were panicking, transcribing the cerebral waves emitted by his distraught brain.

Professor Eiling knew it was approaching the boy’s limit, looking at the vitals with attention,  
the increasing frequency being stopped when the clone’s body started to vibrate so much that it was visible with naked eyes.  
Frequencies of the machine were decreased level by level, and finally, the experiment ended, leaving a partially knocked out ‘I’ on the table and a satisfied doctor in medecine making his dream come true. But it still wasn’t time to rejoice, he wasn’t sure of his success yet.

“Alright, it seemed to have gone well, well done team! Put him on a medical bed, we will monitor him for a few hours to see if he tolerates the change in his body. Then, let him sleep in his room and check on him tomorrow.”

He was eager to see the manifestation, but it would only happen when Number 3 would wake up, and maybe take some times.   
Ha, he had waited for this for so long, he could stay patient a few more days…

****

The next day, while he was visiting his lab and checking on the studies, Travasco received a visitor.

“Professor Travasco!! We have bad news! A really bad news!” said a panicky employee, rushing to his boss. “Please, follow me, Agent Brodman wants to speak to you immediately…”

Oh great...another problem. But a worrisome one if Agent Brodman, an ex-veteran that had fought in Irak and was now ensuring security outside his facility, wanted to talk to him personally.  
Professor Travasco was stoic, he had seen a lot in his long life, and thus wasn’t impressed or alerted easily. He quietly calmed down the employee and followed him toward the military man.   
Seeing his stringent and concerned face though, the old man expected the worst.

“Professor Travasco, I’m glad you’re here to listen to me personally.”

“Yes agent Brodman. Please tell me what the matter is. Not that I’ve already enough to deal with.”

“Sire, I’m sorry to add more worries to you but...please, look at this footage.” 

A screen lit up and the muscular man charged the video. It wasn’t amateur material, but a hunting camera, that would switch in night mode. A camera that was put on trees all over the forest in a certain perimeter to monitor the surrounding of the facility.  
Brodman advanced the footage to the moment he wanted him to see it, and when Travasco watched it, even the bossy man started to pale.

“As you can see, it’s probably footage of one of the individuals that Number 3 have encountered and that my men spotted. Sire, I’ve fought in Irak alongside my country for a short time but...I can still recognize his face…And I know you of all person would know it too…”

“...Yes indeed...But why is he here….what is happening in this world….”

There was not much suspense in knowing who was on the footage.  
The individual in question had walked before the camera, and then stopped to look at it, his eyes flashing, piercing through his glasses, like if he had said “I’m coming for you”.

It was a matter of time before America was to discover the place, if he didn’t already.


	11. Shifting

There had been multiple results with the waves on the previous experiments implemented with nation's cells. But what happened when ‘I’ woke up was quite surprising for him and the scientist crew, especially on how fast the little boy’s body started to react.  
It was only the day after his ‘enhancement’, ‘I’ had slept all day and night in his room alongside ‘P’ who stayed with him, his grip on his brother’s arm trying to comfort him.  
Sleeping this time wasn’t relaxing, and the boy seemed to suffer from a fever, a plaintive cry escaping his lips as he was rolling in the bed.

But the doctors had checked many times, it was part of the process and nothing worrisome, that’s at least what they had told the little albinos whose trust on adults was going down hill. After all, they were hurting his beloved brother!  
But powerless as he was, he could only support the brunette with all his might, and accept that new version of him.  
Because some changes were already noticeable, and as time passed, it became confusing.

The sleeping beauty only woke up several hours after him, and god, he was still in pain. It felt like all his body was stiff, from head to toe. It was the second time in a row that they had made him sleep restless and it was impacting his well-being.  
This time though, he only felt something was strange when he tried to move and talk.

“‘P’..? I’m back again….What?!”

Half-asleep ‘I’ suddenly froze on the spot, touching his throat and gulping. He hadn’t recognized his voice when he had opened his mouth.  
Sitting up, he also noticed he had difficulty to appreciate the length of his members and when he looked at his hand, he backed away so abruptly that he fell from the couch on his back.

The other boy immediately walked his way on the couch to look from height at his fallen brother.

“Big Brother, are you ok? You’ve gone aaaaall weird tonight!! When I woke up, you looked like a grown up!!”

And indeed, what ‘I’ discovered in the mirror was the same face he had seen in the wood, the one of the young man, the only difference being his was transfixed, eyes all opened.  
He touched his face, and his hair, that had regrown to fit perfectly the image of the nation he was representing.  
Was it what they wanted to do? Making him look like his original? But what was the point?  
‘I’ couldn’t think straight, and just stayed against the white and cold wall besides him.

“I...I don’t know..….what did they do?? I feel not like myself anymore!!”

At this, ‘P’ walked before him, and with a determined face, put both his hands on the newly adult.

“It’s okay! For me you’re my brother!! I don’t care if you are like an adult now!! And like that you can even reach the higher conduits and ...And we can go in the outside!!”

“No ‘P’ that’s not the problem!! What if I also lose my memories like ‘R’ told us?? I don’t want to forget about you or Father ...” the italian copy started to cry. If the scientists were able to even do this to him, he feared they could do anything including erasing his memories of here.  
And this fear wasn’t completely unfounded. Now that he remembered, his dreams were about sceneries on the outside, like battles, some looking too familiar. Furthermore, when he was thinking of the men in the woods, their names just popped in his mind spontaneously.  
He could even tell who’s clone was ‘P’, ‘R’ and ‘C’, but for now, it was mostly some awaken knowledge that wasn't impacting his personality. For now.

‘P’ put his fingers in his mouth and stood still, looking at him. It was his way to contain his frustration. He hated when his brother was sick or unhappy. It has been too long now, almost 2 months since he had seen his brother smile.

“No! I don’t want that! I will make sure you remember me!!”

The little albinos managed despite the size difference to hug his brother tightly, and they both cuddled again, exchanging their warmth and hopes. Together, if they could stay together….

The relative quiet ambiance was disrupted with announcement in the corridors, and both shot their heads up again.  
What was it this time? It didn’t look like an alarm, more like a series of orders shot by the microphones.  
The ground seemed to start trembling as people walked hurriedly. It’s true that since the day before, the activity of the facility had become livelier than usual.  
Standing with relative balance, ‘I’ took his brother’s arm and grip on it, even when the door opened and agents came to separate them again, this time for good he believed.  
He released it at the last time, screaming his brother's name, struggling with more strength now than he could before, but eventually, his brother disappeared from his side, and the last words he heard from him was : “Brother ‘I’!! I will find you! And we will see the outside together!”

****

The newly adult was put in another room, for the check up apparently. He hated even more the way he was looked at like a rabbit in a cage, the way whispers were surrounding him, or the way Professor Eiling was inspecting his appearance with amazement.

“I knew from past experiments that you might have an accelerated growth, but I didn’t expect it to happen in only one night….This is not on point though, since we have to evacuate so soon...” he murmured, seemingly annoyed by the last part, while continuing his neurologic examination, although the boy wasn’t really cooperating.  
A voice rang behind him, interrupting the man with glasses, then quietly exchanging information with him and the nurses. After that, for whatever reason, ‘I’ was escorted toward a new room from the medical wing of the 2nd floor.  
The exercises they wanted him to have in that room were disrupted by another announcement from the black phones all employees had, more urgent.  
This seemed to make all the initial ambient agitation increase, escalating when the alarm broadcast in the facility and the red light flashed in the corridors.  
‘I’ saw, when the door opened to let the doctor leave in a hurry, men and women emptying rooms and taking away medical devices, or papers.  
Him was consigned indefinitely in an adjacent tiny room he was in, sitting on the chair with a guard at his side, not leaving even one seconds his prey away.

The door finally opened after a dozen of minutes, and ‘I’ gasped when he recognized Father opening the door. Despite all that had happened, he was so happy to retrieve a familiar face, and one that wasn’t dissecting him with his look!  
Kästner didn’t respond to the silent call immediately, and after gazing at ‘I’s condition, turned his head to the guardian.

“Hi soldier. Professor Travasco asked me to bring Number 3 with me for the evacuation.”

The guardian didn’t seem to understand as it wasn’t exactly his orders, and Kästner repeated.

“Are you daydreaming? Didn’t you listen to the code and the alarm? I need to bring Number 3 RIGHT NOW.” growled the spiky haired man with authority.  
The other man complied, but was still confused about why he couldn’t come with them.

“I’m sorry, but you’re not qualified. The place is a secret...for americans. It would be a shame for you to reveal the emplacement of the hideout if you were asked to But don’t worry, one of your colleagues will come protecting us.”

Quite the explanation, but it was right that Kästner had qualifications and that the soldier didn’t, so eventually, he let ‘I’ follow his Father.  
The brunette had been of course handcuffed so he wouldn’t try something crazy, and the scientist pushed him forward to follow a corridor.  
They walked silently, or more like ‘I’s questions weren’t finding responses at all.   
The man used his badge to open a restricted corridor, then another, in what seemed to be a maze.

“Don’t try to remember, you’ve never been on this side of the facility. It is a restricted area to lose any strangers that try to enter here” 

Ok then…’I’ wasn’t even trying to, lost as he was. 

“Father….what is happening??”

They opened another door and suddenly, Father turned back and put both his hands on his shoulders with strength, his eyes diving inside his.

“‘I’. You will do as I say for now on. There are cameras here but they can’t listen to what I say. You will hit me against the wall and start running at your left.  
I’ve heard the intruder is around there. I want you to find him and escape with him.”

Astounded, the clone felt his jaw drop a bit. It was so sudden, and so...unreal.

“B..but Father...you want me to...To escape? I don’t….but what about y...”

“That’s why you will try knocking me out, so they don’t suspect I helped you. I’m pretty sure it will not work but, it will take them longer to find evidence of that. Now, let’s go for the act ‘I’.”

Father had changed expression, like if he was furious, and had grabbed the frail form of his collar, shaking his ‘son’.  
It took some time, but ‘I’ understood that it was part of the act, and, taking his breath, he turned around and threw his shoulder at his Father, punching him against the wall with all his strength about three times until the man released him.

They both exchanged one look before ‘I’ started to run.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now, maybe I can give some complementary information about what was told here :  
> \- The soldiers I'm mentionning are all mercenaries or private security guards, most likely recruted by Nina Arkonlavesc which is a former soldier herself.  
> \- Since they are former soldiers, most of them are american. In Hetalia I feel that nationality is important because countries can have powers on their citizens. But you will see that more in detail in the same chapter.  
> \- Kästner is of german nationality, which why he used this argument to convince 'I's guardian.


	12. Round trip

Once he had found one of the hidden cameras, finding the remaining ones had been a piece of cake.  
It took him about 1 day and a half to spot one, then America noted the emplacement and explored around until he found another one.  
Sometimes, it wasn’t a good idea to put so many monitoring devices, since you would put too many of them near your secret lab, exposing its exact location.  
If the nation had let him show himself on one of them to challenge his opponents (and totally not because he didn’t see it, yeah!), he didn’t reproduce the mistake afterward, using all his skills to avoid being seen.  
His enemies were to not have enough time to prepare for his arrival!

Soon, he had arrived next to a building that looked like a big welcoming cottage, nothing like what he had imagined.  
He would even think he had mistaken it if he didn’t see the sign of the Nature defender’s association Travasco was known to collaborate with.  
It looked like some small headquarters for their reunions, maybe.   
Cleverly, there wasn’t any security around the entrance. Why cleverly? Because putting some militaries or security agents in front of sight, in the middle of nowhere, would be hella suspicious for anyone travelling there.  
This facade was just looking like an information center on the surface, not attracting attention.  
However, that didn’t mean there wasn’t anyone guarding it, and America stopped himself when he spotted some uniforms hidden in the vegetation.  
...Which was perfect for what he wanted to do!  
Tiptoeing one of these gentlemen, he quickly put him out cold and started to dress like one of them, hiding the body around. With this, he had an access pass to, he hoped, at least some of the restricted area of the cottage!

He then sneaked toward the entrance, and entered.  
The inside was quite cosy, a side with a sofa, another with a wooden table and chairs. He even spotted the essential coffee machine on one counter.  
Talking about the counter, there was one looking like it was made for tourists : Leaflets about the associations and their activities, even advertisements to join voluntarily the cause!  
He rang a bell on the counter, and waited, making sure he was hiding his face with the cap he had stolen from cameras.

It took quite a time before a young elegant woman with honey and long hair appeared, wearing what looked like the association uniform.

“Hello! Is it for a coffee?”

This question made him laugh internally. She was used to seeing them enter from time to time to get coffee!  
But he couldn’t laugh out loud, it still was important.

“Hi Miss! That would be really sweet and welcomed! But actually I’ve business to do with my boss inside, I need you to allow me to enter.”

At this, the woman frowned.

“Ah but...I thought you were to not leave your position nor use the front door...and I don’t seem to have seen you before. You are on the files right?”

For any undercover agents, it would have been a tricky one. But we weren’t talking about any humans there…  
America smiled a bit, still pretty casual, and put his arm on the counter to approach his face from the ‘receptionist’. 

“Hey! Are you sure about that? Have you never seen me before? You can check if you want!”

This seemed to make the woman hesitate, as she was mesmerized by his cerulean eyes.  
It was one of the numerous tricks Nation had on their people : one of them was they always looked familiar to them, even if they had never met physically before. He could even at some extent pretend to be someone. The second trick gave this feeling of comfort and trust. Of course, not everyone would fall for it, but to be able to resist a little, you needed to ‘know’ who you were facing. And that wasn’t the case of this proud lady!

“Oh, that’s right! Now that I think about it, I think I’ve seen you around before. I’m sorry Sir, there’s a lot of you and I can’t memorize everyone!”

“No problem Miss, I’m relatively new and I know newbies aren’t as apparent as my superiors….but this task I was charged with is quite important and I want to prove myself worthy!”

The lady beamed, and opened the counter to let him pass.

“Alright, I will not hold you up for too long if it’s that important! Go ahead before you’re being scolded sir!”

The blond man thanked her and made himself through. Now, was the unknown of “where to go” exactly. He couldn’t ask her too many questions or it would conflict with what he told her before, about him working here. So he searched on his own, locating at the same time the other entrance she had talked about before, which was hidden in the woods it seemed. It could be of use later.  
There weren't many employees on this floor, but soon, he spotted one elevator with men in uniform guarding it.  
Used to the military etiquette, he positioned himself and saluted his comrade.

“Hi Sir, I need to go inside, I’ve some matters to talk with our boss.”

Both looked at each other, before asking America to decline his grade and identity, which he did with the name of the private he had stolen the uniform from. When showing his badge of course, the photo wasn’t corresponding, but the men couldn’t spot the discordance, and let him enter, not without the conflicted feelings that there was something strange but they couldn’t pinpoint what.

“Alright, I think Major General Brodman is somewhere in the 3rd floor, looking at the reserve. Not like we can access any other part of the building with our accreditation.”

Interesting, though America. There were at least three floors under him! So much for a small facility supposed to study animals, right?  
He thanked his mates, and took the elevator, trying every button to see how far his accreditation went, but it seemed he could only go to the 3rd floor, among a total of 4.  
That’s where he tried first his exploration, meeting with both soldiers and manufacturing employees. There was quite the activity down there. The 3rd floor was indeed a reserve for material, food stocks, and also scientific and medical tools.  
He also discovered there was a hidden road on this floor, leading to the outside it seemed, but wasn’t a good escape as the tunnel was quite long and it would take an entire day at feet to reach its end. Contrary to all senses, the trunks weren’t emptied but charged with everything people could, in a cooperated way. It was almost...if they wanted to empty the place.

“Shit… I shouldn’t have shown myself at all…” whispered Alfred to himself, realising his mistake. They were trying to change location with whatever they were hiding there.   
This Travasco guy was kinda a rat, didn’t he? They didn’t seem to think he would be coming undercover and alone though, and he wanted to keep that advantage for now.  
Of course, he avoided meeting Brodman in person, just helping out at some point to lift some materials to look like he was doing something (Like an impostor, niark niark!).  
This place wasn’t interesting enough for his investigation, he needed to go to the 4rth floor or the 2nd floor.  
There was the option to break one elevator and climb up, but well….he wanted to not be spotted that easily you see?  
He found his treasure after carefully looking around : a closed safety door. In all logic, it was going upstairs and used if the elevator were unusable.  
Fair enough! He would take that!  
Do not forget that he had super strength, and he easily broke the entrance while nobody was looking.   
And in no time, he was on the second floor.

That’s when things got spoiled. After walking around in what seemed like an abandoned aisle, he heard some announcements from the microphones. It was talking in codes, but something told him it was talking about him!   
And indeed, he heard voices talking about an intruder and rushed steps from everywhere, just before an alarm was triggered.  
He almost entered in collision with a man in white coat pushing a trolley at great speed, that excused himself and then passed his way towards what he thought were the elevators.  
He tried his best to avoid people by sensing their presence, another nation attribute that was useful but it was energy consuming with so many people around, and it wasn’t working well as half of them weren’t of american nationality.  
These bastards had thought about it, it seemed, or maybe it was just a coincidence?  
He eventually started running as he heard people calling for him at one corner, pushing with his strength all obstacles in his way.

Shit shit! It wasn’t in the plan to be caught!  
Using his extrasensorial powers to sense his people around, he tried many corridors here and there, sometimes backing away to escape.  
He needed to find stairs quickly and...waaa!  
The blond man had nearly collided with a man at the corner. But this time, he didn’t push him away with an half-assed “sorry”.  
Because that man was…

“Italy!!! What are you doing here dude?! Did ya follow me?!”

Because of the eventful situation he was in, the super-powered nation didn’t notice right away something odd about Italy, even when this one immobilized himself and looked at him like he had tatooed the english or french flag on his forehead.  
He was about to ask him what was wrong with his face when the brunette started to talk : 

“Sir...Mister….America! We...We need to run! To the outside!”

And without losing more time, the young man had taken his wrist and they started to run.  
In their escape, Alfred finally found why Italy seemed off : First, he was wearing white clothes and a dark collar with a barcode. Second, he was much more formal, and didn’t “Ve” like his friend used to. Finally...his eyes were opened, quite wide! And his traits looked nervous, tired and scared. Well, Italy could look scared quite a lot, but this much…  
That’s how he concluded that it wasn’t Italy with him, but anyway, he sensed that somehow, that man was as much eager to flee this place than him.  
Seeing the guy tiring, Alfred changed position to take the lead.

“Hey dude! You know where’s the exit by any chance??”

Between 2 breaths, his travel partner succeeded to tell “No..uff...uff...But….there..might...be...a ...Elevator...somewhere?”.  
Great! He didn’t know more than him.  
Fortunately, America was an observer and he would start to follow the indications showing the way to the emergency exits.  
The method paid when they finally arrived before the closed door. Closed not for long as he pulled it so strongly that he extracted the door from its hinges and threw it on the side.  
The simili-Italy’s face was priceless as he did, drawing a smile on his face, and he couldn’t help the tentation to brag about it.

“Haha! See? I’m the super-hero here! Don’t worry bro, they can’t do anything against me!”

‘So why are you fleeing’ was probably the reflexion of the stranger, but he still looked impressed and his face had lit up with the hope he was giving to him.  
Their arrival on the first floor had been short, especially because the exit door was just next to the previous one.  
It was a shame for the nation that wanted to explore the place and discover what their researches were, and he promised himself he would return….might be with his loyal armed forces or government police, hoping it wouldn’t be too late and Travasco wouldn’t have escaped.

At this point, his partner was so exhausted that he had decided to carry him on his right shoulder. It could have been dangerous if their enemies were firing at them, but it wasn’t the case at all! They were trying to paralyse them with some tazer or anesthesic dots, from what he had seen. Maybe another sign showing they knew what they were facing….

Thanks to his speed and the narrow stairs, they succeeded in putting some distance with their chasers, and Italy bis was put back to his feet.  
They continue racing, America knocking out the fewer men of the ground floor, before taking the secret entrance he had seen just before.  
Outside, finally! America prepared to have to fight a bunch of other mercenaries or ex-veterans, but no one showed up as they ran further.  
And he discovered a few minutes later why, as a familiar voice rang in his ears, near a fir tree.

“So, I see you’re having quite fun on your vacation Alfred, but I wonder why you didn’t invite me comrade?”

Higher before him, Russia was standing, a mischievous smile on his face, and at his feet, a bunch of bodies he had put all effort to beat up to the pulp.

“Inviting you uh! Sorry, Have to say I don’t like sneaky people spying on me during my vacation so...there was no chance. Besides, it seems you can invite yourself quite well so why should I?” retorted the american with a challenging tone, making Russia’s smile wider and his face turning terrifyingly purple.

“Arrr..Please Aru! Could you behave at some point?” said China, appearing next to Russia alongside half of the other nations in a tentative to stop them from being dumb.

“Well, I’m half agreeing with Ivan on this. What are all these soldiers doing here and what were you plotting today? We need an explanation, America.” replied Arthur with frowning eyebrows. As much as his fellow colony’s business didn’t concern him at all, it was quite deloyal to bring them on vacation and lie to their face. And that went also for Germany that wasn’t amused by the situation.

“Ah...ok guys, you’ve got me! I will explain...or try. But I’m not sure I can explain everything…Uh, are you okay buddy?”

And at this, he looked at the brunette he brought with him, hiding behind him. The man seemed very unwell and it wasn’t only because he was exhausted.   
The amber eyes were looking at the hivernal country like if he had seen a ghost.

“Wait a minute...Why is there a second Italy-san!” exclaimed Japan, his jaw dropping as he realised the striking resemblance.  
Immediately, all stares went to ‘I’, who felt himself cornered and made a step back, hugging his arms and making himself as tiny as possible in an attempt to hide from the attention.  
It felt like time had stopped for him, until his gaze went to Italy. When the original and the clone made eye contact for the first time, something seemed to break in ‘I’.

Suddenly, he felt a pang in his head, the worst pain he had ever felt in his life. It was like his brain was exploding inside his cranium.  
Hands on his head, the boy fell on his knees.  
That’s when he saw the red dots, the blood net coming from his nose that he touched with one hand, before feeling his belly hurt as well. In fact at some point, pain was everywhere, and the poor boy was being reduced to a wrecked ball on the floor. Tears mixed with blood fell from his eyes, unable to try asking for help, words stuck in his throat.

Mere seconds afterward, he passed out and his mind was engulfed in shadows.


	13. The clone and the immortal beings

A comforting tic tac saluted ‘I’s awakening this time.   
Comforting but strange, odd. Where was he?  
That’s the first question he asked himself when his eyes tried to open and met with a wooden ceiling.  
Still fuzzy, he prefered staring at it without using his brain much, letting his mind awaken. It was that kind of morning when you couldn’t remember right away what had happened the day before. But he was going to be helped for the matter.

“Hola amigo! I see you’re awake! How do you feel?” 

Startled, ‘I’ jumpscared a bit, taking the blanket and covering himself while looking at the brown haired man that was sitting next to his bed.  
The man’s smile was warm, reassuring, and it reminded him of Ms Miller. Though there was a hundred years old gap between both.  
Feeling terribly shy, the boy didn’t answer, covering himself even more by just letting a little hole for his eyes to observe the man’s reaction.  
Well, the man….he knew his name so he should call him Spain instead.

“Tchh, you’re scaring him with your stupid face! ” said a smirking South Italy coming from behind, having heard his former caretaker speaking.

“Oww Romano, are you jealous…”

“I’m not Chigi! And I told you to stop, your smiling face is annoying as hell!”

For ‘I’s amazement, he saw the two men having a domestic dispute before him...and this made him giggle.  
Immediately, both heads turned to him and he stopped, feeling embarrassed.

“Haha! I see you’re well awake now! Good then, how about having breakfast? I know it’s early, but you might want to eat something! Come on, don’t be shy!”

Considering the offer, the boy slowly pushed the blanket and started to move to wake up, before being hit by the pain all over his body. It was even worse than after the electromagnetic wave’s experiment, and he hissed, making the two other men worry.

“Hey hey there...Vaffanculo! You’ve seen he was sick and shit, why you make him move!!”

Lovino made sure to hit his air-head former caretaker on the back before rushing to the boy. Something was triggering his big brother’s vibes about that man, and while you might find it strange coming from him, Antonio knew the italian was actually caring about his family a lot. He was just really embarrassed to show it in the open.  
But not this time, not after what he had seen when they had to change the man’s clothes soaked in blood…It reminded him of past events he would prefer to forget.

‘I’ was helped to sit on the bed and remained a spectator, not uttering a word and not making eye contact with the italian that was looking at him thoughtfully. Soon, Spain came back with a mug filled with coffee, and gave it to the stranger.

“Here, have this! It will wake you up.”

A dark brown liquid...could it be poison? It wouldn’t make sense if it was though, and staring at it wouldn’t be polite, so ‘I’ took a sip...before wincing.

“Urk, it’s bitter!”

“Oh sorry, you don’t like coffee?”

“..coffee..?”

Both grown ups looked at each other, surprised and the experiment felt like if he had said something wrong. Fortunately, they didn’t seem mad with him.

“Uh, you don’t know what coffee is?”

The boy shook his head with his head, and Spain frowned.

“Tha’t’s...do you know in which year we are? Or where you were living?”

Again, the boy shook his head, and answered.

“In the facility.”

Silence ensued, before Spain concluded.

“Welp, I think we will wait for the others to come back before harassing you with questions. Because there will be tons...”

****

Later on, after ‘I’ had breakfast, he had been given some liberties, at the condition to be accompanied by the present nations.  
Seeing how the newcomer acted like a fearful animal, the nation avoided to approach him all at the same time.  
From their observation, the stranger seemed odd and they quickly suspected he had never left the place he had been raised in.  
The second Italy seemed mesmerized by every single thing around him. Each object, even the most common ones, were leaving him fascinated. He even got scared at the Mosse’s stuffed head, and like a toddler had touched everything in curiosity including woods for the chimney.   
When all the nations came back from their shores and came back to meet with the stranger, he was sitting on the chair of the living room and playing with Gilbird, stroking gently his head while smiling, repeating that birds were fluffy and cute.

It felt awkward to interrupt such pure joy from him, but the nations needed answers. England had personally asked to be the one interrogating him. The hidden reason behind the Island country’s proposal was his rabbit flying friend who had recognized the scent from back in the woods of the White Mountain National Forest!

“Hi lad! My name is Arthur...or you may know what my real name is?”

The tone, the way all countries were now looking at him made ‘I’ realized he was being interrogated, and the boy changed behaviour spontaneously, his smile fading.  
He waited, hesitating. He was fed up of being interrogated, and scared they wouldn’t appreciate what he was telling them.  
Though, they had treated him quite well until now and being here had been a lot of fun he didn’t have for a long time.  
Tired of lying, ‘I’ decided he would at least respond genuinely to his saviors.

“..It’s England sir.” 

“Yes, that’s right. And what is your name?”

“Which name..?”

“Don’t you have a name?” 

“ My brother and Father call me ‘I’. The other misters call me Number 3 or…”

The boy showed his collar, and the nations could decipher the following : I-KXY07DPL003.  
It looked like a coded name for...an experimental subject.

“Right...We will call you ‘I’ then. So, tell me ‘I’, who are you? Why do you look so much like Feliciano?”

The boy hesitated, playing with his finger, before taking a breath.

“I’m...Mister Italy’s clone...I think.”

This stunned his audience, even if they all had guessed something of the sort.  
America grunted at this. “Dude, that Travasco bastard! I can’t believe how he dared…”

“Silence Alfred, let us speak!” interjected England before returning to his main interlocutor.  
“How do you know you’re a ..clone?”

“....My friend ‘R’ told me…”

“You mean..there are others like you in the facility? How many of you?”

The boy nodded, sadness appearing in his face.

“We were...four. But now, ‘R’ and ‘C’ are gone.”

“For what countries stand the ‘R’ and the ‘C’?” asked France out of curiosity.

“‘R’ is for...Russia. ‘C’ is for...Canada.”

Canada hugged his bear tightly at this, while the air around Russia darkened, forcing the asian countries to move a little away.

“And what about the last one?”

“It’s my brother. His name is ‘P’ and it stands for….Prussia.”

“What?!”

This time, Germany had left the side and put his hands on the table, his eyes opened wide.

“Did you say Prussia? But that’s impossible! He has disappeared for decades! How would they have gathered DNA to even begin with…”

“That’s...Quite surprising indeed. But we don’t know since WHEN that Professort Travasco had started his study….But maybe we could guess….Do you know how old you are ‘I’?”

“I’m eight.”

France almost shocked on his saliva when Japan and a few nations had opened their mouths wide at this. Well, they couldn’t be too surprised seeing how they all were old men in younger bodies...but it was unprecedented to see the reversed case around. That though explained a lot about the ‘man’s behaviour.

“Eight? Are you sure? I mean, I believe you, but you don’t look like a eight year-old boy to me…”

“Yes, I’m sure! Ms Miller would celebrate my birthday every year! But...but after they put me in the weird machine, I just woke up grown up like this…”

England knew it was useless to ask what the weird machine was, the clone didn’t seem to know the details and that was normal he didn’t have access to these infos.  
He was still impressed that ‘I’ understood about his nature from his own conclusions.  
After getting him to describe the machine (which didn’t ring a bell to anyone in the room, even the trained engineers), he came back to his track.

“Who is Ms Miller? ”

“It’s...it was our teacher. She was really nice..but she was fired because of me when I escaped…”

He explained in detail how he found the conduit, how he saw the outside for the first time, how he had seen them but didn’t want to meet with them because he was scared.  
The adults listened to him patiently, letting him get all this out of his system.

“That’s very courageous of you ‘I’, to have tried to escape that place on your own! Tell me now, you’ve talked about your father before right? Is it your biological father?”

Who was Father? That was such a weird question for him. Father was Father! Or was it?  
The boy dug in his mind to try responding.

‘“...I don’t know...I don’t think so. But Father is...he is my daddy, he can look cold, but he is really nice! He even helped me escape with Mister America!”

“Really? Maybe we have an ally inside then….” though England, before one other point he wanted to question came to his mind.

“Anyway, do you know by any chance what..happened to you when we met? You’ve collapsed and it seems like you have been bleeding a lot, but it stopped and your wounds then healed on their own…”

The child’s face stiffened, and he looked at the table. With all the novelty he had experimented today, he had succeeded to forget about it..until now.

“ I...I think I’m...starting to degenerate.. and...I might not have much time left.”

His words were raw, merciless, and it felt like a mass had suddenly fallen in the living room.

“What do you mean?” asked an unsettled England, worrying at the sudden change of mood.

“‘R’ and ‘C’...they were really sick, they were degenerating. Father called it ‘attacks’, it came and went and they were treated with the serum. But one day, ‘C’ became a vegetable even with the serum, and ‘R’ too….there was a lot of blood…”

Just talking about it made his eyes wet, and he was making an effort to not cry.

“Me and ‘P’ were fine because Father said we were a success. But after the weird machine I think I’ve caught it too. So I will die without the serum…”

“It’s okay buddy! We will not let that happen!” intervened America.

“Aru, don’t be hasty on promises America! It’s true I’ve succeeded in stabilizing him with some of my secret concoctions but...I’m not sure it will be enough…” whispered China to his ears not for the boy to hear. He didn’t want to deliver bad news to the kid, but he wouldn’t make fake promises either.

“He said there was some kind of antidote in the facility! If I go back and take some with me…”

“You want to return there??” Canada yelled, startling Japan who had changed place to his side without noticing him.

“No one go nowhere for now, except for the shores! America, I’m not allowing you to wander again on your own!” threatened Germany, exasperated at the way the american was thinking sometimes.  
The other country pouted, but knew too well he wouldn’t be able to sneak easily around so many of his peers watching his actions closely, if Russia alone wasn’t sufficient. Not talking about the emergency state he had left the secret lab in!  
The conversation lasted a little longer about details of ‘I’s life and each nation took notes about what they had gathered so far : There was a scientist making clones of them, studying their cells and DNA for whatever other projects since there were at least four floors. It had been at least eleven years since the project had begun since one of the clones had lived about this long, reminding that ‘R’ was Number 2, so there was probably a precedent one in the chronology.

“I wonder why there is no Number 1 and 4?” questioned Japan to himself. This was intriguing, but gloomy if he was asked.

“I don’t want to think about it mapple…” 

Canada was still recovering from the news that he had had a clone at some point (who was dead, oh joy!) , and was digging in his memories to know when someone could have taken his DNA away. There were actually a lot of people, and one hair could be enough for this...they had been quite careless.  
Germany, him, was thinking about ‘I’s brother, still not believing it was possible he was Prussia’s clone and how someone could have had the idea to obtain DNA of the former empire.

However, there was one feeling they all shared about this : They absolutely needed to dismantle this facility the sooner they could and unravel all it’s secrets, because it could be a danger to all of them.

****

Today wouldn’t be the day, as they had just fought the day before. They also needed a better plan since it wasn’t America’s solo invasion anymore (and that didn’t work that well).  
For the time being, they would just continue with their usual task, including their new member.

Feliciano had been quite eager to take care of the boy, complimenting him on how he looked like him, touching him casually. ‘I’ had feared him the most the first time, but his alter ego knew how to make him comfortable, and soon, as well as the other nations, ‘I’ relaxed around him and followed him and Germany for collecting wood.  
‘I’ had never worked before once in his life, and the elders had to show him everything from zero, but the kid had the will to do well and took as much brushwoods as he could.   
One hour later, Germany and Italy had watched him with a smile taking pleasure in the simple work.  
Afterwards, he had followed some other countries eager to show him the surroundings and to explain to him what was what. He even got his first cooking lessons, a simple one : making an egg. Like that, they were sure he would succeed and make him happy with the new achievement.

Night came, and they all had dinner, discussing the plan. The most perfectionists (I let you imagine who) wanted to play it complex, while the oafs wanted to just go and fight to their soul content.  
America had hesitated to ask reinforcement from his government, but he actually hated to ask help in general. His fellow nations were qualified and enough to be fair. Besides….it was concerning them and somehow felt personal.  
They were all talking vividly, except for ‘I’ who had stayed silent the whole time. The brunette had stopped eating and was looking at his plate absent-mindily.

“Is there something wrong?” asked a soft voice beside him, and the amber eyed met the purple and gentle one of Canada.

“….I was thinking about ‘P’....I wish he would be there with me...I promised him to show him the outside... It was our dream after all the photos we’ve seen. I’m scared they took him away and that...I will never see him again…”

Seeing he was going to tear-up again, Canada tried to comfort him awkwardly by putting his hand on his shoulder. He wasn’t used to making someone cry! 

“It’s okay….We will find him… We’re already discussing the matter see?”

The boy nodded, but still let some tears escape, which didn’t go unnoticed by the other nations. But it was Italy who stood and approached him.

“Ve...Ve...it’s okay...I know how you feel. I was separated for a looong time with my brother too and I was really sad. But we eventually reunited! Come here, give me a hug.”

What the nation did afterward was something countries that weren’t living alongside him rarely saw. Since they had known the clone was only eight, all had acted with him as a child. And one thing nations were really sensible about were children, as they were their future, fragile creatures. They cared for them with a certain motherly/fatherly instinct. Heck, they would also do that to grown up adults which were children compared to them.  
All this to say, Italy took gently the boy at his side and took him apart with him, on the couch. There, he hugged him, putting his head against his chest, and after a few echanges that the others couldn’t decipher, he started to sing an italian lullaby for 10 minutes, until the child relaxed, and eventually slept on his lap.

France, Canada and Romano had watched the mesmerizing scene from afar, while the others had continued to talk.  
England let ‘I’ sleep on the couch that night, borrowing Germany’s sleeping bag.  
No one dared to make too much noise to wake him up and eventually, they all went to sleep, with fired up determination.


	14. The collapsing lab

“America-san...I’m not sure that’s a good idea…let’s just stick to the plan...”

“Oww come on Kiku!! We’ve gotta go fast or they are going to get this boy’s brother away!! Travasco bastard was already packing up his stuff when I was down there, it’s a matter of time!

“For the eleventh time America, we understand that but YOU can’t just be everywhere at the same time! We need to form groups to explore the whole structure, and since you know the 3rd and 2nd floor better than all of us, we need you in group 2!!” roared an exasperated Germany.

Despite their intensive discussion yesterday, let’s not forget that they all had their strong personalities, and weren’t agreeing on everything. If not, their decades of meetings would have been actually ‘efficient’!!  
Right now, the matter was about who would go where, and with who. 3 groups had been formed : Russia, France, Spain and England for the 1th floor. America, Germany and Japan for the 3rd then the 2nd floor (as they had already been explored partially) and China, Romano, Canada for the 4th floor. Italy was in charge of staying with ‘I’ in the cottage to take care of him, which he was happy for.  
However, America didn’t want to go back to the 2nd floor and wanted to explore all the floors he hadn’t seen yet, while Romano was pretty much not liking going at all, asking why his brother could not go and he had to! Spain and England would have prefered not to be in the same group and France had tried exchanging his place with China to avoid being with Russia and to be with Canada. The asian was already bearing his bulky friend most of the time and wanted some space out, specially when Russia was in a mood to fight.  
Germany had changed the group’s members so many times already that he had used his authority to shut everyone and to leave the groups as they were. Of course, some wouldn’t be happy and would argue about it.

“What a pain in the…” hissed Romano.

“Tut tut mon cher, no bad words before children uhm? It might be a pain but we have to do what we have to.” 

“ I think on the contrary it will be a lot of fun! But don’t go disappearing on me, da? I will not wait for you!”

“If there is someone who will make us disappear it might be you…” mumbled England, as Russia’s waves of savage excitement were giving him goosebumps.

The men had regrouped at the entrance of the bungalow, packaging. They had decided to go in the afternoon, the morning being for preparing everything and installing protections around the cottage. There was still a risk for Travasco’s men to come search for their experiment, and unfortunately, ‘I’ was far from having Italy’s running skill.  
Not speaking about the fact he had been ill this morning, his head hurting again and making the nations worried about his health.  
To help him and themself relax a bit before the mission, they had decided to eat outside, as the weather was perfect.

But before they could eat, England heard a familiar voice upon his head.

“England...I feel something approaching...it’s really weird and fast this time!”

This alerted the englishman who stopped what he was doing and yelled at the others to warn them.  
The countries shot all their heads up, frowning when they saw the british man suddenly walking toward the wood, and after a moment of hesitation, everyone followed him with curiosity.

“Oy England, what’s wrong?” Asked Romano. He was irritated at the fact the man was acting on his own without any context given.

“I sense something….and it might be dangerous.” 

Danger, a word that none here was fearing...more or less. Curious, everyone followed the british man, weapons at hand. ‘I’ was taken with them in the middle, to be protected if needed. They didn’t want to leave him behind, but they all wanted to know what England had found.  
Five minutes, then ten minutes later, they arrived in a glade, and still nothing was happening.

“Mon ami, have you perhaps tried to eat some odd mushrooms in the wood? I know you have no taste, but you should be careful about what you eat…”

“Shut up you frog! I’m not having hallucinations!” 

“Shh! I’ve heard something!” whispered Japan, hand over his katana who was never leaving his side.  
Immediately, everyone took their weapon off and took position, eyes shot where the noises had come from.  
They heard broken branches and then ferns moving, until something jumped before them.  
America and Romano almost shot the beast, but blocked at the last moment.

What they were facing was a really big muscular darkish fluffy Irish Wolfhound with one blank eye. It was in fact so huge that it was almost the size of a pony.   
The beast had stopped running as his collar had been pulled and was now panting and turning his head right and left, listening to the voice on his head, his tail waving in actual happiness.  
But the reason why the countries didn’t attack it further was because someone was riding the dog and waving at them with a wide smile.

Germany’s heart had stopped at the sight. France had hid his mouse behind his hand in shock and Spain had been speechless. On the back of the dog, there was a child version of Prussia, that looked exactly like in their memories of him, wearing a leather bag with straps around his right shoulder and back.

“‘P’!!!”

‘I’ was the first to move, almost pushing China to separate from the protecting cocoon he was in and run toward his brother.  
The tiny Prussia jumped over the dog and threw himself in the taller boy’s arm with a giggle.

“ Big brother ‘I’ !!! I found you like I promised!!! Guess I’m that awesome, Kesesese!! ”

They both hugged each other again, before ‘I’ realised what he had said and grabbed his shoulders.

“‘P’...what you just said..”

“What did I say?”

“Just the thing before..” asked ‘I’ warily. This didn’t resemble ‘P’s way of talking before. And from the memory he had gained, he knew from whom the boy was getting these expressions from.

“Impossible..”

The albinos turned his head on the right side, and his eyes met with Germany’s, who had approached himself slowly, looking at him with a mixture of feeling.  
The red eyes blinked, and with all honesty, the white face lit up and answered :

“Oh! Hi West! ”

The blond nearly fell on his feet, just before the boy, his lips trembling.

“Prussia...is that you..? Have you returned in this child??”

The 5 year-old kid bobbed his head on the side, turning his eyes while thinking.

“Me? Nein, I’m not! I'm 'P'!...but you Mister felt soooo familiar that I said that! Kese!”

As happy as he was to retrieve his brother, the older experiment didn’t like what the signs were showing him, and he interrupted the german to ask with a serious tone.

“‘P’...did they bring you to the weird machine too?”

At this the boy brought his fingers on his mouth as if he had been taken at fault, and nodded, but not wanting his brother to worry, he quickly added :

“Ja, but I’m all fine Big brother ‘I’! I remember you too, and you remember me!! And I didn’t become a grown up too...it’s so weird... Oh!!! And I’ve gotten this, look!!”

‘P’ opened the bag he had around him, which was too big for his tiny form, and brandished a long syringe filled with green serum the brunette had seen before.  
All the nations had approached to see better, examining the fallen empire’s clone, his belongings and also the dog who seemed to want to lick his master, making the child giggle.  
At some point, France decided to ask the real questions.

“Hi there mon grand! How did you get away, and how did you obtain this?”

“And where did you find this huge cool dog?” smiled America, having stars in his eyes since he had seen the badass entrance.  
Quite eager to answer to the grown ups and liking the attention, the kid turned to his new four legged friend and started to tell the whole story.

“After Big brother was away, there was the alarm going dun dun for a long time and then it stopped but everyone was still running everywhere. The weird professor came and brought me to a weird room. He said that he didn’t want his work to go to waste because of the ‘ewacuation’ and he put me on the cold table and he bound me!  
And then it went bzzz bzzz, it felt so so weird!  
There was a man wearing green then who got angry with the weird Professor, and they unbound me and took me away. We took the stairs to go down but suddenly, it was night!

“Night?”

“Yeah!! It was all night! And there were weird noises, and people were screaming!  
The man went to the opened door and suddenly there was a biiig fluffy thing that got in his face and he screamed and they fought each other!  
I ran upstairs and there were some flying fluffy thingies that were coming out of the conduits and everyone was panicking.  
There were also some big dogs and rats coming from the stairs, running everywhere!  
I followed the green lights like Father taught me when it’s getting dark and I went to some stairs. I know I didn’t have the right to, but I remembered Father saying that if something was wrong I could go there.

There wasn’t many people on the new floor, and I walked in corridors and entered some rooms with lots of chairs and tables, and papers on the floor. There was the bag I took with me on one of the chairs. Then I saw other green lights and I entered another room with the door open. It was half empty but there was the green tube on one side next to a big cold machine. Because I’m awesome I took it, but then I heard angry voices and bang noises and I thought I was going to be punished and fled…”

“Bang noises...As for gunshot?” whispered to himself Japan, while the boy didn’t notice and continued his story.

“Big brother told me how the outside was so I tried finding the exit following the green lights again. It was dumb because the exit was just next to where I was, kesese!  
Then it was completely different, there were trees on the walls!!  
There were scary muscular men screaming and I ran again and that’s when...there was the outside behind a door!  
When I got outside, I didn’t want to abandon Daddy of course, but I couldn’t return, they had weapons and they were shooting everywhere at the animals.

That’s when I met Doggy!!”

At this, the albinos patted the dog, who whined happily and licked him again, waving his tail.

“Doggy was really nice! I asked him if he could find Brother ‘I’ and he sniffed me all over and let me climb him…..and he really found you!!! Nice nice doggy!”

The child was engulfed in fur as he was trying to scratch the bigger creature in a cute and knowing way.

“Oh my..’P’! It could have been so dangerous! I’m glad you’re safe...Do you by any chance...know where Father is? Have you met him?” ‘I’ asked. Now that his brother was safe and sound, he was worrying for his father’s well being after all he had heard.

The albinos shook his head.

“Nein...I haven’t seen him at that moment but...but he actually came just before I was brought to the machine.

“Really? What did he say?”

This meant it had happened after he had escaped, so it would be the most recent information they had about him!

“He said that you were outside! Also, he told me to follow the green lights if the night was to come, because it would lead to the outside, and that if it happens I have to run and don’t let the mean men in green catch me. He also said not to search for him. Then he left, he seemed in a hurry.”

The adults were trying to put the dots together with all these informations, and suddenly, Canada exclaimed (frightening a little his neighbours again):

“This Father man knew what would happen..it means he was the one who shot the light off, that’s the only plausible explanation!”

“What I don’t understand is these animals wandering in the facility. Where are they coming from? That dog over there isn’t normal…” replied France, still confused by this strange story and wary about the Irish Wolfhound.

“If they are able to do clones of us, I wouldn’t be surprised they tried to do some genetic modelling on animals…” suggested Russia.

“There’s only one country to have that kind of idea...” England remarked smuggly.

“Yeah, play innocent old geezer, like you never got your own mad scientists…” retorted America, rolling his eyes.

“So amigos...let’s not stay there! We can hear Chibi Prussia at the cottage, and give him a good hot cocoa drink to celebrate his escape!” 

Spain gave a wink to the boy, who’s eyes sparkled at the perspective, and after an enthusiastic “Kesesese! That’s so awesome!!!” Everyone agreed to proceed with that.  
Guess Germany would have to rethink his whole plan, again. He was starting to have a headache about this, but well, if they had already found the other remaining clone, it was going to be easier, na?

Talking about headache, despite the feeling of relief, ‘I’ was still massaging his temple in pain, hiding it from his little brother, until a gasp of pain was heard.

“Doggy?”

It wasn’t from the brunette, but from the dog the noises had come from. The second before, the fluffy creature was following obediently with a curious gaze, but now, he was rubbing frantically his head on the floor and whining.  
‘I’s stomach made a whole turn when he recognized the symptoms. Even if the creature couldn’t express it, it was in pain and soon, blood started to drip from its ears and its nose.

“Ve! What’s wrong with him??” murmured Italy, as the scene started to look like a horror movie.  
Contrary to ‘I’, the dog didn’t have any clothes and thus, they could see wounds opening themself all over its body, which was having spasms and wrong movements.  
Feet trembling, Doggy tried to maintain composure, but eventually fell on his side, struggling against that invisible enemy that was paralyzing him at fast speed.

“He has the woodpecker in his head too!! Hurry, let’s give him serum!” shout out a panicked ‘P’, pulling Germany’s pants frantically as he was the one who had taken the bag with him.

“No Aru! We can’t waste it, we need it for your brother!” interrupted China before the big nation could obey. 

“Big brother ‘I’ is sick too?! But..But…” stammered the small one, turning his head in the direction of his brother, who was lowering his head and watching terrified as history was repeating itself again before his eyes.

Doggy was still whining on the grass, and ‘P’, not standing seeing his friend suffer, ran to him and hugged him, even if his clothes would be strained with blood.   
From his only valid eye, the dog was expressing his distraught, confused and scared at what was happening to him. He just couldn’t process what was happening, but he knew what awaited him at the end.  
When he understood that, he stopped struggling, only waving his tail and whining miserably, giving a last look to the only friend he ever had for that short amount of time he had been free.  
Then, he stopped moving and fixed the distance before him, even after ‘P’s effort to shake him, caressing and talking to him in german saying he was a good and nice boy.  
Canada had sat and was taking the pulse of the creature, knowing it would be only faint, if none.  
Seeing as ‘P’ continued to hug the beast despite it being dead, France snapped out of his initial shock to get closer to the boy and put a hand on his shoulder.

“ ‘P’...it’s over, release him now mon grand…” 

“Nein.” replied the albinos, his head pressed against the fur of his fallen friend.

“You know, he was probably very happy to have been with you, but he was probably suffering and...he went to a better place. But for him to go there safely, we need to bury him…” added Canada with a soft tone, trying to negotiate with the boy.  
After a minute of silence, ‘P’ finally gave up. He wasn’t crying yet, but he was grimacing sadly, clenching his hands.   
Still without a word, he headed to his brother and hugged him, receiving the same attention from him, even if ‘I’ couldn’t manage to console him much as he was in distress himself.

It had been so sudden, so imprevisible and fast that most of the nations didn’t even react. Some, like Italy, turned their eyes away. China, England and Japan had looked worriedly at each other before looking at ‘I’.  
It wasn’t difficult to understand the experiment suffered the same condition, and that he was at risk to know the same fate. Heck, maybe Prussia’s clone was on the same boat and they had only one shot of serum…

Germany had stared at the serum syringue inside the bag, and was also clenching his fist. He knew it had been a wise choice not to use it, but he still felt guilty somehow.  
Not standing anymore seeing the two cuddling kids trembling, the blond went to them and grabbed his brother’s doppelganger without warning to put him on his lap.  
First surprised, the albinos gasped, but sensing the warm and comforting adult surrounding him, he calmed down.  
Italy and France went to the older experiment and helped him get up and walk.   
As they promised, Russia lifted the dog’s body, not minding dirtying his clothes, for them to bury him later near the bungalow.

Then, they all proceeded to the house, and only ‘P’s silent cry could be heard.


	15. Excursion

That morning had given a new meaning to their mission. If they were going inside, it was mostly to save the children by finding the serum and its composition. And now, time was counted, because when they got back, ‘I’ had an attack too.  
Fortunately, they could separate the two brothers in time, letting the poor baby not have to go through this twice in a row.  
‘I’ had been taken to the bathroom, and they had wasted no time in injecting him the serum, praying it would work.  
It did in 5 long minutes where the aged kid was spitting blood and bending on his stomach.   
As they noticed though, the serum seemed to freeze the wounds and not actually heal, and to freeze, half a dose was insufficient.  
The nation’s healing attribute was what made them disappear, taking a total of 30 whole minutes for ‘I’ to look anew.  
He was still exhausted by all the energy his body had put to recover and, with the help of Spain and Romano, the boy was undressed and put on a hot bath to clean him and reinvigorate him.

Meanwhile, Germany was having a conversation with ‘P’ on a trunk bench, like one of a counsellor to get past the previous event and divert his attention. He wasn’t really good with kids, but maybe the way he looked so familiar would help to ease that one.

“So you were studying german right? Do you know how to speak it fluently?”

“Ja! Now I know. Well, I knew already, but much much better now! I even know songs Kesesese!”

Little ‘P’ climbed the trunk and started singing a joyous song from the past that Ludwig recognizes immediately. He looked down at his feet, in though. This didn’t go unnoticed.

“Uh. Something wrong? I’m not singing it right?”

“No it’s just...my brother would sing it to me back in the days.”

“Your brother...the real Prussia? Oh, can I meet him? I bet he is as awesome as me!”

Embarrassed silence met the expectant albinos, before Germany breathed out.

“Nein...he...he is gone several years ago now.”

“Gone...Like ‘C’ and Doggy?”

Oh no, what had he done! His goal wasn’t to make the boy cry again! When he saw the boy’s face grimacing, the blond panicked a bit.

“Well yes….but you know, it has been a long time (for human standard), and it was painless (I hope)...and..”

Not very convincing, Germany was saved by the small chick that was always accompanying him, flying toward ‘P’ and squeaking happily, which got the boy's attention.

“It’s...a chick!! Is that Gilbird? He is soo cuuutee and fluufffyyy! You wanna be my friend too??”

Saved by his brother’s bird we could say! Germany watched the 5 year-old playing with the bird, reminding him a little about how ‘I’ had acted before. Remark for himself, Kids loved animals. Which meant..

“And if you want, once we leave here, I can introduce you to my dogs too.”

Critical success was met with the proposition, and now, the blond had totally won over the tiny one!  
And to celebrate their friendship, the country even got him a bretzel, which the boy ate with hast after smiling wildly.

“A bretzel! I’ve never had one before but I know what it is! It’s still weird! But gut!”

This made the german smile a bit, before he received a silent sign from Canada. They were about to bury the dog.

“ ‘P’...do you want to attend Doggy’s funeral? It’s not mandatory of course, if you don’t feel like it…”

The albino paused and though, still chewing his bretzel, before replying :

“Ja it’s fine! I want to tell him goodbye!”

And thus, both stood up and they proceeded to the back of the cottage, where Canada, Japan, Russia were waiting, covered in mud. The body wasn’t visible anymore, hidden by a cover of soil. When the boy was there, they started again to cover the hole in silence.  
Without any instruction, the boy advanced on his own at the border and pronounced :

“Goodbye Doggy! Tell ‘C’ hello for me!”

Then, ‘P’ hugged tightly Germany’s hand, and watched patiently, until the tomb was completed.

****

Afterward they had lunch, the two experiments eating heartily everything that was presented to them. ‘I’ had hidden the fact he had been sick, and they just appreciate the moment together in safe company, the older showing all he had learnt to his cadet.  
However, the brunette had something in his mind and when it was time for the mission to start again, he stood up and called for Germany.

“Mister...I want to go with you in the facility.”

“Whaa? You want to return there? But it’s dangerous you know?” replied America, surprised. For someone who had passed whole months to escape the place, wanting to go back so soon was unexpected.

“I know...but I’m worried about Father and...I want to know more about us too.”

Almost all nations though this was a stupid idea, until China added for his defense.

“Well Aru...I also think it’s better to bring him after all..”

“China, are you out of your mind?” frowned England but the small man raised a finger, stopping his ranting, and whispering.

“I’m not talking about retrieving his father or information, but about the serum dose. If we take too long to find one and bring it back here, we’re not sure he will...survive that long. If we bring him with us, we can inject him immediately if he starts degenerating again. “

No one could argue he had a point there and the adults agreed to it.   
But if ‘I’ was going somewhere, ‘P’ was following him! The tiny boy had made a tantrum about coming too, reminding Arthur about how Peter had asked him day and night to bring him to a world conference once or twice. (And he had been defeated if you asked.)

Thus, they ended up bringing both, and the nations all started their journey in the forest to assault the facility.  
They didn’t take long, which was odd. No one to stop them, no mercenaries or servicemen like a few days ago. The place was deserted..or almost.  
Approaching the enemy's lair, the nations noticed a first body. It was the biggest rat they had ever seen, tumorous with dark hairs and wounded almost in every part of its body like Doggy had been. The blood was turning dry on the grass.  
He had a collar too, but even without it, they would have guessed it was one of the experiments. Curiosity striking, Canada approached the corpse and examined it. 

“‘R-ILEN-2531…’ something. I think the dog was named ‘CN-ILEN-21059’. Might be an identification code.”

“Don’t tell me there are at least 25 000 specimens like this…” paled Japan just at the thought.

“Don’t forget we don’t know since when Travasco started experimenting...but well 25 000 would be quite a number yeah!”

They met about five other bodies, some wounded by gunshot, but mostly animals with bigger proportions who had degenerated on their own. The poor things had tried to escape but their lifespan was greatly depending on the serum it seemed.  
Entering by the secret door of the disguised cottage (which was wide open), the nations and their protégés separated in three groups, mainly like the original plan :   
Russia, France, Spain and England were still exploring the 1th floor, however ‘I’ and ‘P’ were to join them. It was the nearest to the surface, so they could evacuate faster in all logic. Italy added himself to the 4th floor in Romano’s company after being torn apart between his brother and his best friend’s protection.

They used the stairs, and after giving last instructions, they all deployed with military discipline.


	16. In the enemy's Lair

****Group 3 : Canada, China, Romano, Italy - 4th floor****

The four nations had taken the stairs to the deepest part of the building, or so they thought.  
In their way, several bodies were found, animals but also 2 humans in uniform, their gun laying a few steps aside. They seemed to have fought, however, stairs weren’t the best place to do so against so many creatures. But that was nothing compared to what they found in the 4th floor.  
Barely after they opened the door, they all felt nauseous at the sight and smell of the bloodshed.  
Dozens of rats, mouses, dogs and bats bodies from all sizes were laying against the walls, on the floors, and some were blocking the way of the armoured door that had been supposed to contain them.  
Some had fought each other to death, some had degenerated, but most had been killed with guns.  
The four men prudently proceeded in between the heavy door and on the only opened corridor and discovered much more bodies in their way...

Kumajiro started to growl at one point and something, to their dismay, answered. A weak shrill whine coming from the left side.  
Putting his light toward the noise provenance, China gasped when discovering a bat the size of a german shepherd on the floor. One of its wings had been severely injured and it couldn’t fly like it was intending to. 

“Poor thing Ve…We can’t let it like that…”

“No way we are adopting it Feliciano!” warned Lovino with an exasperated face.

“Pain.” whispered Kumajiro in his usual calm tone, while looking at his master with expectant eyes.   
“Pain.” He repeated until Canada, shivering a bit, nodded.

“...We can’t let it like that anyway.”

Canada stepped forward to the agonizing creatures, and slowly, pointed the gun to its head.  
Then, he shot and the whining ceased.  
Turning to his companion, he stated, his imperturbable face on.

“He will not suffer anymore now…”

Looking at each other, his three companions didn’t say anything as they followed him, looking a last time behind them.  
Then, they arrived at what seemed to be a restricted zone...if the doors weren’t all opened.  
But not only the security doors were opened, all the cages that had contained an animal or several were too, as China noticed.

“The shortage opened all the doors..making every of their ‘experiments’ escape...for what I guess.”

“No way. What kind of system would let all your experiments go away each time there’s a shortage? That’s dumb China! Someone obviously opened the cages THEN put the shortage, that’s my guess!”

“Aru! I’m not permitting you to insult me, South Italy!” warned the oldest one, not liking the way he was addressed. It was a thing Romano was probably right about what he said, but he wasn’t tolerating his ill habits of being bad-tempered toward him. 

“Ve! Guys please stop fighting, I heard something!”

“Chigi! There’s still some of them here!”

Indeed, some of the cages weren’t empty, and they could see approximately 4 dogs and 2 rats hiding inside, terrorized by their arrival. One of the rats was in an acute degenerating attack, two of the dogs were wounded. Of course, there were corpses of animals and about three humans, 1 woman and 2 men. They had been slashed by teeths on vital regions. However, contrary to the ones in the stairs, two of them were wearing blouses.

“‘Sonia Adams, assistant laboratory technician - confidentiality level 4’ from what I read from her ID.” Romano deciphered. 

“Look, there seems to be an experimenting room here. And there are more animals…”

These ones though were normal or semi-normal sized mouse and rats in glass jars, more common sight in a research lab. And many alive! 

“Ve..there are some green tubes with something in it...irck, it’s look like embryos!” informed Italy, feeling extremely sick all of a sudden.  
It was indeed animal embryos of the ones they had met and for some reason, Feliciano was shivering.

“Are you cold?” asked a concerned Canada, before the italian shook his head.

“No...but it’s like...this one here...And this one...it’s like they are reacting to me...like if they were my..citizens…? No, I can’t define...”

“What? The fuck? Since when animals can be our citizens??” ranted Romano, angry at the nonsense he was hearing.

“Ve, I know that Fratello, that’s not exactly...I can’t explain what it feels because I’ve never felt like this before but look! They are moving when I’m near…and I’m feeling tickles too, in my hand.”

The nation made a demonstration and China, Canada and Romano could see a few of the embryos reacting to it, wriggling at him.

“See..? It’s reacting to me when I’m near, like if they were more...lively…”

“...Holy father, pray for those who have sinned...” Romano’s trembling lips sprouted as understanding was sinking in him.

“...could it be...They used our cells and injected them in these animals? Why would they do such a thing??” 

“Aru, I’ve seen a lot of crazy men and women studying us in the past...Searching for our immortality and regenerative properties. In the modern era, this search...it can lead to this.”

They found after that material for injections or biopsies, cameras to register some experimental behaviours the scientists judged interesting, along with hour-glass shaped cages where they assumed they could study and experiment on the bigger animal . There were some serum bulbs too but that were too small to be used for ‘I’, and larger syringes were spilled and scattered on the floor, not enough for the whole menagerie though. They still took some with them. It was better than nothing!

“I think we have seen everything, there is no more room.”

“Which resume the floor to this injecting and study room with hour-glass cages, the bigger cages and the corridor…”

“Mm, there is another entrance here, but it’s smaller...I think the animals can pass by there.”

The italians and the chinese man immediately glanced at the polar bear. Polar bear that took his time to notice he was observed but when noticed, answered with a decisive.

“No.”

Canada took longer to understand, but when he did, retaliated.

“ There is NO way I’m sending Kumagarou in there!”

“Ha, of course, we were kidding..don’t be like that!” replied Romano, not completely honest here.   
However, the project of Kumajiro the explorer was aborted, and they all agreed to catch up with the others. For the few animals still alive there, they couldn’t bring them up and Canada didn’t have the strength to end them all, seeing as they still seemed healthy for now.  
They prefered letting nature do her work until America came back with his troops to evacuate and clean the place….

But when coming back on their steps, Italy stopped the procession.

“Hey...near the stairs we came from...I think it’s a metal door no?”

From afar, it just looked like a metal part of the wall, but nearing it, they recognize a door. An old door, that looked very heavy.  
So heavy they couldn’t open it, even after Romano tried to unlock it.

“Too heavy, we need that brainless bastard superman for that.”

“Let’s head to the meeting point and talk about it to him. It’s not like the door will move…”

Agreeing, they finally took back the stairs, and at this moment, light came back.

****Group 2 : America, Germany, Japan - 2nd floor****

The 3rd floor was, for their greatest deception, empty of living beings, which was unfortunate since they thought they could capture one or two (or dozens) of belated employees to interrogate.  
America noted that all the cars/trunks and a LOT of the stuff he had seen packed two days ago had disappeared.

“Man...how fast have they been...I told you guys we should have been faster to act! Now they’re gone!”

“Well to be honest America-san, I prefer not meeting with anyone, because that would mean fighting over numerous enemies.”

“Let’s be prudent, it might be a trap.” warned Germany, gun already in hand when he moved forward, followed by the rest fo the trio.  
They tried to explore everything but the main interest had been animal’s bodies here and there, mostly agglutinated against a huge security door.

“That door wasn’t there the last time I checked! Behind it, there’s a road where trucks could drive in an underground path! ” commented the superpowered country.

“Seems the security has been activated. One explanation could be they tried to contain the animals from escaping...or to be followed.”

Despite this one oddity in the giant warehouse, there was nothing that caught their eyes. What had been left was basic materias, food stocks or lab disposables, along with camps for the soldiers to sleep apparently.  
Seeing as this trip had been inconclusive, the group decided to head for the 2nd floor.

***

Even having been there before, the 2nd floor was still quite a maze for America, especially now that light was down, with only the green glowy emergency lights leading the way, giving an eerie ambiance to the seemingly abandoned facility. 

“I swear it was more lively the last time I went there..like people running after me…” grumbled the superpower nation. He hated abandoned places, because it reminded him of haunted houses. He would even prefer the angry men after him compared to this.

“ You said that they were in a hurry to leave the place when you came here America-san right?”

“Yes...in fact uh...I kinda showed myself on one of their cameras and they probably chickened a bit fearing I would come with the government or special forces...ya know. They were taking everything they could on the third floor to be evacuated in trucks.”

“They probably accelerated the pace when they saw you had already scouted the area…” sighed Germany. He had told many times to the big country he had to be more discreet while acting, but America had something about being in the spotlight. He just couldn’t help himself sometimes to do the show.

“Well...they might have forgotten many things then!! They couldn’t have the time to erase everything!”

“Indeed.”

They proceeded in the corridors, until reaching what seemed to be the medical aisle, with a room containing an MRI.

“Ffff! They even constructed THAT here!! Cutting-edge technology for a secret underground study about forest’s local fauna, sure! ”

There were scattered documents, and from what Japan read, it looked like parts of summary of MRI findings about regular checking of ‘P’s brain. Not very interesting as they were judged normal. Two pages were about ‘C’s brain damages, the last MRI the experiment had before his disappearance.  
Alongside this, there were notes about the check ups of the clones, their constants mostly, which wasn’t useful for their investigation.  
3 rooms not far from the MRI’s one, there was another machine with seemingly giant magnets and the nations recognized the one ‘I’ had described to them.

“There’s instructions to use the machine. It seemed to deal electromagnetic waves at a certain frequency. I don’t know for what purpose though…”

“Nothing explains it here, and we can’t access the computer’s data either…”

“If only electricity was restored we could maybe discover somethings…” pouted America. He had brought about 2 special hacking USB to steal information and had been expecting to use one of them here.The other had been given to England for the 1srt floor.

“Let’s search for what can be found without datas. We will then try to turn on the electrical current. If it was intentionally severed, we might be able to restore it. But we need to find the generator.”

Next to the medical aisle, they discovered what seemed a more ancient series of corridors, as if the medical aisle had been added afterward. These corridors seemed like living places...And places to raise children. They found the playroom, the restroom, the study room, Ms Miller’s office, and then the numeroted rooms. They were all opened and were mostly empty, except for the one where ‘I’ and ‘P’ had been living in. For ‘R’ and ‘C’s room, it seemed to have been cleaned entirely.

“Have you noticed how all these books are centered about the history of their respective nations? ‘I’s shelves is full of italian landscapes or cooking books. And ‘P’ have story books in german too.”

“If they could implement memories directly to them, I don’t see why they would put so much effort in them studying….”

“Oww, nice an unmanned helicopter!! Uh...don’t look at me like that… I was just thinking about bringing it back to ‘P’! He will be super happy about it!”

“Now that I think about it, we should find them names. Real names. It gives me an odd feeling calling them with only letters..”

“Oh yeah totally! Let’s ask them what they want as a name! How about Tony and Steve.. ”

“NO!” yelled the ex-member of the Axis in unison when hearing the last name. They didn’t know why, but it gave them shills behind their spine. Definitely not Steve. Cursed name.

Suddenly, a clicking noise was heard, and the nations had to run outside the room as the power had been restored. Systems were reinitializing and lights were finally on, to America’s pleasure.

“ It seems like some of the others have found the generator!” Germany stated, looking above himself although he didn’t know where it had been repaired exactly.

“YES! So we can go back to the medical aisle and try to take some datas now!” 

When Alfred was grinning like that, there was no way to change his mind, and all three took the direction they had come from to return to the medical aisle, even if there was probably not much information about the project in itself.

At least America would have a surprise for the albinos when he would come back at the rendezvous point!

***** Group 1 : Russia, France, Spain, England, ‘I’, ‘P’ - 1rst floor*****

“Mm, there’s a lot of staff room in here, I’m not sure it is wise to explore them all...” whispered France as the larger group entered a corridor with red dirty carpet as the floor and sneaked in some of the first rooms, following ‘P’ who was leading the way not too far from the adults.

“Ja! Adults love chairs and tables here!!”

France was picking up papers on the floor and in the rooms they were exploring, but not much was found on them. Would have been too simple uh?

“Seems like administrative documents, about security and organization of the factory...I would need more time to read this, but it seems as boring as our job....” the old man sighed. Let’s remember they were initially on vacation and he didn’t intend to see a piece of paper in a while!

Crossing the bureaucratic area quite fastly (they could search there later),they noticed that walking further was leading them to a more technical aisle the albinos hadn’t explored, including 3 laboratories adjacent to each other. 

“That’s the place I saw when I was in the conduit! There was a lot of serum here...” signaled ‘I’ as he recognized the laboratory white benches.

“Maybe we can find some, let’s search for it big brother!” jumped excitedly ‘P’ as he ran into the room and tried opening every closet and cupboards.

“Don’t run boy and stay close to us will you? We don’t know who or what can be found here..” warned England moving after the impatient kid.

But there wasn’t anything anymore. Contrary to other places in the factory, this one had been evacuated and cleaned with peculiar care and ‘I’ felt more and more depressed as they found nothing in the fridges.

“The serum seems to be a well guarded secret they didn’t want to abandon that easily..” growled Arthur as they left and turned right at the end of the aisle.

There the corridor was turning right and they proceeded, ending up in a maze of corridors and rooms which the only purpose seemed to be to lose intruders inside. Russia felt more and more impatient, playing with his beloved pipe as his sharp eyes were looking in the dark spots, expecting (and hoping) someone or something would jump on them so he could have some action.  
Instead, he found something else.

“Ohh! Look at that darkish red liquid on the floor...if that’s not blood! And there's trails of it!” he smiled delighted .  
The trail, which was actually shoeprints, was emerging from a door. Children moved far behind, Russia opened it and discovered what seemed to be the Control room with multiple screens, desks and computers for the workers.  
Inside it was dark, but by using their flashlights, they found the body of a man, an arm on a platform with multiple buttons. He had been shot with a gun, before someone actioned the device it seemed. For what it did, they had no clue, but they saw a key turned in a sort of lock to action the device in question.

“To think we would find ourself with a murder case of all thing, that place is full of surprises…”

The group left the room after finding nothing else conclusive and decided to follow the bloody footprints.  
They seemed to lead in a precise direction so they would no longer be lost it seemed. But what were they going to find at the end was a mystery...  
It’s Spain who discovered the generator’s room on their way.  
And inside, they found two other human bodies wearing security uniforms.

“...these guys were shot with a gun too, from behind.” whispered France to Spain as they entered the room, England and Russia staying outside with the children and avoiding them to watch over their shoulders.

“Do you think it’s their father who've done all that Francis ? If he shot these guys, then he could be dangerous...and dead.”

“Let’s not tell them that for now. Could try restoring the current ‘Tonio?”

“I will try amigo!”

The brown-haired country looked at the generator and, helped with France’s flashlight, proceeded to try repairing it.   
Meanwhile, the others guarded the door, looking as the red trails were continuing and turning left at the deep end. 

“ Brother, it’s scary here…” complained ‘P’, hugging the brunette’s leg in search for comfort.

“Yes..I..I’m scared too ‘P’..” said a shivering ‘I’. He was only 3 years older and was also afraid in the unsettling dark place. The staff’s rooms had been fine, but here it looked more ancient, dirty, and eerie with the light shut. Sometimes, shadows looked like they were moving too.  
Fortunately, like if their thought had been heard, a multiple clicking noises were heard and suddenly, light went back, flickering a bit.  
Not a minute after, Spain and France were proudly exiting the room with smiles on their face.

“Haha, ‘Tonio you’re the best!”

“Haha well... In fact, some of the wires had been cut and someone shot at the main generator to broke it but there is a smaller emergency generator alongside, probably the one lighting up the green lights. I’ve changed the connection for the emergency generator to act as the main one. However, he isn’t as powerful and I’m not sure he will last very long…”

“Well then, let’s hurry before all the batteries are drained.” stated England, and the group moved forward at a faster pace.  
The trails were disappearing as blood had dried, but still led them to a close heavy metallic door with a big “confidential sign” on it.  
How delighted was Russia to find some more stimulating activity to do!  
The group tried to open them with some of the ID card they had taken from the bodies they had met, but it wasn’t working so, seeing the door was barely open, he put his finger in and pulled it open enough for his pipe to be inserted. He then used it as a lever until the door slided to the side in loud metallic noises.

“Not much resistance for such a secret place!” he exhaled with ferocious contentment, letting the others enter with a reverence.

The room they entered was the archives and had distincts parts : on the right part of the room were shelves with paper documents that had been half emptied.  
On the left side near the wall, a wooden office alongside tiny drawers, where were laying two computers, one older connected to a cassette player.

“Alright, I can use the USB America gave me for one of the computers. Spain you look at the tapes and see if there’s something interesting..let’s hurry before the current die….” started England, turning on the computers , seeing here the chances to finally get some information.  
Russia and France decided to wander in the rooms and to search in the paper documents, sharing their findings from here and there.

“Ah! There's a document about a ...Project DOPPLEGANGER...Oh! It’s a document from 1973! “ exclaimed France, not believing what he was reading.

“Really? Bloody hell, they were doing this under America’s nose for this long?!”

“Not exactly...this document talks about rabbits cloning. I don’t know since when they have been interested in us especially…”

“Argg this computer is so long to load! I’m not used to it anymore…” sighed Spain, clicking impatiently with the mouse to the dark screen filling with codes.

“Hihi, it’s the weird screen that does electricity when I touch it! How does it work?? ” 

All adults just stopped what they were doing to watch the 2 kids looking at the screens and touching it with amazement like cats with a cardboard box.

“Don’t tell me…”

“You’ve never seen a computer before.”

“Yes we’ve seen some! The weird professor was using one when we were having our check-ups but..me and ‘P’ never saw one from this close...”

How he wanted to touch the keyboard and try copying adult fast typing with the characteristic noises! But the simili-italy didn’t want to disturb the adult so he refrained ‘P’ to just slam his fingers on it at random.

“Everyone!! There’s another door that opens with a special key here…” yelled Russia, already trying to open it by breaking the lock.

“Amigos! The tapes seem to work...and I’ve found some interesting ones.” replied Spain, reminding them that everything involved electricity.

“Gentlemen, I’ve collected some data thanks to the pirate USB…”

“..Bien, et moi, I’ve found olds documents mentioning theories about us…”

This place was a jackpot and all 4 adults had found something.  
They decided to explore the digital documents and the tapes first before the current shut down again and plunged into the past of the facility.


	17. Special Datas

# Audio and video Tapes

Spain had found a bunch of tapes. Some he had inserted were very old audios and camera’s security surveillance video that were in bad shape, and he didn’t have the time to listen/watch them all.  
However, several of them (put in the same place with a color codage on them) had gained his attention, as he showed them to his fellow nations and the two experiments.

****

Tape # 0238

Half of the tape was snow until a voice was heard. He was talking to an audio recorder.

“...5, January 1975…..the government is interested in all kinds of cloning human projects after the success of the rabbit one. I look forward to it, but my secret project is more important and I have met with a man claiming he had met with one of “them”. His name is….….Jdanov….he had fled his country from the URSS. He had heard of my work and told me he had met with….woman….sample.  
I will meet him in three days to retrieve it. I hope the material isn’t too damaged..Pr Hermann has asked me to try his method this time.”

Tape # 0256

The same man was talking again and the nations understood these were part of a vocal diary.

“..23 January 1975...Hair material isn’t enough for the cloning process to be performed efficiently...Subject U-HXX75DPL00B is a failure for now, not exceeding the first week embryo stage. I will still keep the growth….. hoping….work.”

Tape # 1563

“04 August 1983…The ILEN in their cells is...avoiding progress... P-HXY83DPL00D is a failure as well. Inevitably, the subject would die on its own not exceeding 2 weeks of embryo development. I’ve decided to change strategy and contacted some expert biologists to help me with the study of these cell’s properties. If I can find something to help the cells stabilize, then we could pass the embryo stage.”

Tape # 1721

“ 12 december 1985...After Hermann’s death, I’ve been contacted by my old friend Nina Arkonlavesc to help in my project. She wants to take part in the regenerative aspect of the animal studies more than to project DOPPLEGANGER in itself. I know she has a connection with the militaries, her father and herself having served for their country. I hope she will bring new light to my project even if I know her purpose is military centered. The idea of immortality is…..and I might not be alive when…..but it is quite exciting to see the regenerative faculties we could gain from this….”

Tape # 1956

“ 23 March 1987…Professor Kästner is refusing to share his sample of DNA from the rare specimen, as expected of a former SS scientist taking refuge in America and wanting to avoid making too much noise about himself. I still hope to convince him my experiments have nothing to do with the Cold War at hand, though Nina’s research would be another story.  
We sorely need samples for project DOPPLEGANGER…”

Tape# 2740

“ 16 January 1993...I’ve met with a young man in the biologist field, Dr Bertelloni, who happens to have met the nation Italy in person! He is only 27 but is already renowned for his search for cancer and has shown interest in studying the country's cells and ILEN.  
He has his work as a practitioner in Italy and is searching from here but I hope to collaborate with him. We have made progress in understanding how to stabilize ILEN thanks to animal’s study, but it isn’t enough to synthesize a living individual.”

Tape # 3142

“ 17 July 1995 ...I’m quite happy to announce S-TXY95DPL001 has been through the whole growing process and we even saw him open his eyes, thanks to Dr Bertelloni’s preservation serum. We for now didn’t try to let the experiment outside the tube but it is one of the next steps after he has grown a little…”

Tape # 3260

“ 12 October 1995 - Subject S-TXY95DPL001 - 3 month old ”  
The tape wasn’t a voice record but a camera video filming a green tube horizontally laying. Inside, there was a naked male baby floating, breathing with a mask attached to his face. It was sometimes moving one of his four members, making bobbles. After a few minutes, it opened its eyes and the person recording seemed to cheer about it, trying to stimulate him from outside, showing his reaction as the eyes opened, revealing green eyes that then closed tiredly.”

Tape # 3450

“04 April 1996 - Subject S-TXY95DPL001 - 9 month old  
1rst removal attempt - Failure”

Again, it was a camera video of the same boy as he had grown, much more than what you would expect. The boy had messy brown hair cut short and was wearing plain white clothes not so different from what ‘I’ and ‘P’ had been wearing.  
After zooming on him, the camera had moved back to let medical staff proceed to free the boy from its tube, and put him on a stretcher, while drying him in towels and taking his constants.  
The small baby had shown no opposition, seeming quite apathetic until he emitted a whine and started to get agitated, crying.  
From the distance the video had been filmed, England, Spain, France, Russia, ‘I’ and ‘P’ could only see a doctor and a few nurses rush toward the boy as machines were beeping alerting his blood pressure was dropping, before putting him back in the tube.  
One of the nurses passed not far from the cameraman and they could see blood on her clothes.”

This was the last tape Spain had successfully dug in. They would have to take longer time outside to watch the few scattered ones. 

//////////////

# Computers Data 

England had been hacking the central computer and retrieved several documents.

Document # 1  
“List of experiments of project DOPPELGANGER : update April 2016”

Codification of experiments : First letter of country - First name of physician/Gender/year/DPL/Number

G-TXY69DPL00A - Current Status : No development of the embryo.  
Date of birth : none  
Creator : M. Travasco  
Unstable.  
Encrypted data.  
U-HXX75DPL00B - Current Status : Death at 1 week embryo stage by spontaneous stopped growth.  
Date of birth : none  
Creator : S.Hermann  
Unstable.  
Encrypted data.  
P-HXXY78DPL00C - Current Status : No development of the embryo.  
Date of birth : none  
Creator : S.Hermann  
Unstable.  
Encrypted data.  
P-HXY83DPL00D - Current Status : Death at 1 week and half embryo stage by spontaneous stopped growth. Date of birth : none  
Creator : S.Hermann  
Unstable.  
Encrypted data.  
A-TXY90DPL00E - Current Status : Death at 2 week and half embryo stage by spontaneous stopped growth.  
Date of birth : none  
Creator : M. Travasco  
Unstable  
Encrypted data.  
S-TXY95DPL001 - Current Status : Death at 2 year-old, 18 March 1997 by degenerative disorder.  
Date of birth : 16 July 1995  
Creator : M. Travasco  
Unstable.  
Encrypted data.  
R-MXY04DPL002 - Current Status : Death at 11 year-old, 16 february 2016  
Date of birth : 20 November 2004  
Creator : E. Malsinger  
Unstable.  
Death by internal hemorrhage on degenerative acute disorder predominant in the small and large intestine.  
Encrypted data.  
I-KXY07DPL003 - Current Status : Alive, 8 year-old  
Date of birth : 12 June 2007  
Creator : L. Kästner  
Stable  
Encrypted data.  
A-KXY07DPL004 - Current Status : Death at 3 weeks of embryo stages by spontaneous stopped growth.  
Date of birth : None  
Creator : L. Kästner  
Unstable.  
Encrypted data.  
C-MXY11DPL005 - Current Status : Death at 5 year-old, 16 february 2016.  
Date of birth : 28 January 2011  
Creator : E. Malsinger  
Instable.  
Suffered from degenerative acute disorder predominant in the brain with several hemorrhages.  
Death by massive hemorrhage from a cut in the carotid artery.  
Encrypted data.  
P-KXY11DPL006 - Current Status : Alive, 5 year-old.  
Date of birth : 04 February 2011  
Creator : L. Kästner  
Stable.  
Encrypted Data.  
C-MXY12DPL007 - Current Status : Death at 8 weeks of embryo stages by degenerative disorder .  
Date of birth : None  
Creator E. Malsinger  
Instable.  
Encrypted data.  
“

Document # 2

“List of the 106 experiments of project ILEN currently alive- Update April 2016  
…  
Canis CN- ILEN-21058  
Canis CN-ILEN-21059  
etc...  
Chiroptera CP-ILEN-16030  
Chiroptera CP-ILEN-16031  
Chiroptera CP-ILEN-16032  
Chiroptera CP-IL EN-16052  
Chiroptera CP-ILEN-16053  
etc...  
Rattus R-ILEN- 25308  
Rattus R-ILEN-25310  
Rattus R-ILEN- 25312  
Rattus R-ILEN- 25313  
etc…  
Mouse M-ILEN- 34081  
Mouse M-ILEN- 34082  
Mouse M-ILEN- 34089  
Mouse M-ILEN- 35002  
etc...  
”

Document # 3

“Report of incidents - Project ILEN

Date of report : 16 April 1998

Several cases of incident have been reported on the 4th floor and multiplied through years :  
7 August 1987, Assistant researcher Maria Crowley was attacked by Chiroptera CP-ILEN 02365 while trying to open its cage. She has lost 2 eyes in the attempt.  
16 April 1989, Soldier Marc Bystando was attacked by Canis CN-ILEN- 03659 while protecting the searchers when opening its cage.  
11 February 1993, Assistant researcher Ray Polligan was killed by two of the Canis experiments when opening the two cells believing the experiments were harmless.  
etc…

These incidents have in common to happen during transition between cells and place of experimentation, specially while opening the grid manually.  
For the matter of security of the searchers and soldiers working on the 4th floor, it has been decided by Professor Nina Arkonlavesk to install electric celldoors that can be opened from the Control Room.  
The new protocole will be instaured :  
For any cages needing to be open, the Control Room must be informed  
Once approval is given, the Control Room head technician, which possesses a special key, will action the mechanism to open the cell door.  
The doors can be then closed manually or electrically.  
Chiropteras experiments are raised in the same large cell so to capture one, a net must be put at the entrance to catch it safely before the door is opened.  
If cage’s doors are opened during emergency calls, the security gate will close automatically to avoid experiments from escaping on the other floors. The security gate can only be desactivated by the Control Room once the emergency is over. For employees trapped inside, remember you can take shelter in the experimentation room and close it manually.  
Any experiment escaping control must be eliminated.

This we hope will permit to lower the number of accidents and regulate the use of the experiments . 

END of Report”

Document # 4 

“ Report of murder cases of 16th of February 2016 

Date of report: 2 march 2016 - Project DOPPLEGANGER

17h35 - Experiment subject R-MXY04DPL002, that we will simplify as Subject Number 2 for now on, broke the mirror in his room (number 08), in what was believed to be the child's usual expression of angriness. He hid a piece of the mirror on himself without anyone noticing.  
Doctor Emilian Malsinger was called and came, taking him along to “punish him himself”according to witnesses. While travelling with him in the corridor, the child seemed to have asked to go to the toilet repeatedly, until putting himself to the floor and Dr Malsinger decided to bring him himself on the one near the 3rd corridor of area 2.

17h45 - In the toilet, which didn’t have a surveillance device, the subject presumably climbed on the toilet seat, calling for Dr Malsinger to help him with something, and when he opened the door, jumped on him and cut his throat and carotid arteries around 4 times, killing Dr Emilian Malsinger on the spot.  
He stole his ID card, and used his DECT phone to make a call to the last number that had called, meaning the agents before his room, attracting the attention of security agents who dispatched in area 1. 

17h52 - Subject Number 2 snickered in Room 07 where subject C-MXY11DPL005 was installed and killed him, outside of camera's reach. 

17h56 - Discovery of Doctor Malsinger’s body and activation of the alarm.  
The security agents, who were taking their break in the restroom deployed themselves around the area of the murder. Subject Number 2 hid in Room 07 before opening it with the ID card once there was no one around, and proceeded to Room 02.

18h08 - Subject Number 2 opened Room 02, in presence of Subject I-KXY07DPL003 and P-KXY11DPL006.

18h13 - Death of Subject Number 2 from a “Cell acute Degeneration attack”. Rescuing of Subject Number 3 and Number 6. It seems no harm was done to neither experiment.

18h30 - Discovery of Subject Number 5’s body on the floor of his room, carotid artery’s cut once with precision. He was holding his teddy bear against his chest.

The incident was then closed and the alarm set off.  
It was found out that too much information had been openly leaked in front of Subject 2, like password, use of DECT phone, the room where Subject Number 5 was in, as well as major security procedures failures from employees.  
Security must be imperatively reinforced in the 2nd floor in area 2.

Psychological support has been provided for the workers and the 2 remaining subjects and must be pursued.  
The motive of Subject Number 2’s action seems to be his separation with Number 5 and animosity toward Dr Malsinger according to witnesses and workers.

No information about the Project seems to have been leaked to the remaining experiments, although further interviews of subject Number 3 and 6 are needed. “

****

Other datas were found but about the logistics of the building and procedures. Besides, many documents weren’t updated and it seemed the updated ones had been removed from the database.

////////

# Paper documents

The paper documents weren’t more informative than the datas on the computers as they were outdated for most of them.  
They talked about Travasco’s works on rabbit’s clones and then human clones in association with the government. There were scientific articles from other authors of the era around the subject and clinical and experimental research.  
Could also be found a contract signed with several companies, written formulas, memories of hypotheses about Nation Cells and ILEN’s nature.

This one got Francis, who read it until he was interrupted by a curious Spain. He then showed it to him.

“  
Pr Bertelloni - An Essay on ILEN from Nation’s cells - 1997

[...]  
At first glance, Cell’s of nations aren’t different from one of a human in a microscope. However, they are highly resistant to any exogenous aggression. I’ve tried to expose them to UV radiations, to toxins and poisons, to bacterias and the result is a reparation to the initial state almost every time. They would never transition into cancerous cells like HeLa cells immortal lineage no matter what we did. They also don’t seem to duplicate normally and we could only maintain the actual cells alive but we couldn’t put them in efficient cultivation at the beginning of the project.  
After a time that can be days to a year at most, they would die without a host, which explains the matter of needing to renew the samples.

With Professor Arkonlavesk agreement, I will talk about the results we have so far on animals.  
When injected in adult mices, no matter their geographic provenance, the cell’s death is accelerated, so fast that the serum is ineffective. We first thought it was the animal immune system reaction, however the necrosis was so fast sometimes (almost 10 to 20 minutes) that we concluded the cells autodestruct on their own.  
This is a bit different for embryos. Well, a lot died before creation but thanks to the preservation serum I created, more could grow and pass the embryo stage. As they grow though, they would quickly develop a condition that we called “Degenerative disorder” defined biologically by episodes of sudden massive autodestruction of all nation’s cells involved. When injected in embryo, the cells are scattered in the organism and if they aren’t near vital organs, the animal might survive these attacks.  
Stranger things I didn’t mention is that aside from these “degenerative attacks” periods, these cells seem to keep their amazing regenerative properties, and even boost the growth of these creatures, which is highly paradoxical but fascinating.  
Some animals like rats, dogs and bats seem for some reason more affected by this growth when exposed to special frequencies.  
I will not tell you more about the details of these specific frequencies as it is the object of search of my colleague Pr Thomas Eiling, but I will talk about what are his hypotheses about these “special frequencies” later on.  
Despite the growth we observe, the degenerative attacks are often increasing in number through months and years and the animals will die eventually in a short amount of time.

What about our main project, the clones?  
At first, during the 70-80’s we used the same method as with animals, putting DNA in a woman's empty egg and then implanting the egg in a uterus. It seemed to succeed in forming an embryo. However, the women participating would have severe rejecting reactions, hight hormonal blood level symptoms and miscarriage was almost always the issue.  
It changed when we decided to make the development in vitro and with the help of the serum and electromagnetic waves. Bathing in the serum, the degenerative attacks and autodestruction process are slowed down, time for the embryo to recover and develop normally again. The waves, them, stimulate the growth and the duplication of cells.  
Since we used the serum and electromagnetic waves, we have obtained one living individual that however couldn’t leave the tube he was born in. He looked pretty much like a human baby would, if not apathetic from the absence of maternal stimulation, which is unfortunate.  
He was affected with the same condition as the animals, but much more violently as all his cells were of nation’s origin. Imagine your whole body destroying itself from every part of it, from a lot of cells at the same time.  
When the blood vessels are affected, then it leads to massive internal hemorrhages leading to death if not stopped.  
Our first subject of this ‘serum area’ died a few months ago when we tried to extract him for the second time, but he was a major progress in our research and I’m hoping to see a full grown individual in the future.  
But I’m pretty sure this autodestructive mechanism, this instability is caused by ILEN disruption. But what is ILEN exactly?

Before explaining what we believe it is, I will explain how I became familiar with it. Even if Pr Travasco had already tried to explain to me the concept beforehand, I needed to experiment myself and I did 2 things for that purpose.  
The first one was to bring back the cells I collected from my country in Italy. I then noticed they lasted way longer than in America.  
Then, I decided to go further and my idea was to approach these cells to their initial owner.  
I had the chance to meet again with Feliciano Vargas, my initial ‘donor’, during the inauguration of a new medical department of the hospital I’m working in and brought a sample with me.  
When I could study them again, the results were stunning : The cells had become more lively and started to enter mitosis and duplicate spontaneously, something we couldn’t do in the laboratory no matter the condition we cultivated them in, unless with the technique I talked about before. It felt like they were linked to him by a strange energy and stimulated by his presence.  
We have called that energy ILEN or Infinite Life Energy of Nation only nation cells possess.  
ILEN is a difficult concept to grasp, because it feels almost magical. One of my numerous hypotheses is that ILEN connects the country’s personification with our souls or our bodies, giving his body information about the physical state of the population but also about what is in their mind. And since invisible wires wouldn’t be regarded as an option in my field, I like to think that it’s a matter of wave propagation at specific frequencies, a belief based on Professor Eiling eminent work. People and their nations would silently communicate with each other through ‘waves’ they emit unconsciously, stimulating the nation’s cells on one part, the enzymes and proteins that are inactivated in a normal human being; modifying DNA harmoniously without suffering from cancerous stage, repairing the body even when it is beyond recuperation, etc. And on the other end, nation’s would also emit waves stimulating their people's brain cells to be able to receive information from them or act friendly with them, like a hidden hypnosis. I’m not sure they are aware of it themselves, nor have we understood how ‘nationality’ worked in this exactly.  
But back to the cells, I’m eager to study them on a more performant microscope, on a molecular level to try to unravel the mystery behind its mechanism, as we don’t know where it produces ILEN, and what organelle is behind it.

If we could give to our cells the properties of having ILEN as a fuel, then cancer would not exist anymore. We would keep our integrity (like our nation) throughout our life, maybe even eternal youth.  
I’m not thinking about immortality, as I’m not sure it would be possible, but living the longest in an healthy body would be fantastic nonetheless for medical purpose..[...] “


	18. Father, Son and Brother

They had to say humans could be quite amazing sometimes. Crazy might be a condition for them to study everything they didn’t comprehend and evolve with their findings.  
Countries were supposed to be mysterious, ancient and lost legends, but here they were, facing clones of themselves, reading theories about them that weren’t that far fetched.

“That Bertelloni fellow might have unraveled some questions we can’t even answer ‘Tonio…” whispered France.

“Si...that’s pretty impressive. But I’m more concerned about all these experiments and clones they are making of us and that dies degenerating… There’s something unsettling about it.”

“Maybe the records we’ve listened to are Travasco’s. To think he has been working on it for more than decades..Bloody hell, this is serious..” 

“...There was a Number 04 and a Number 07...We were supposed to have a brother…no, so many brothers….” trembled ‘I’, looking at the list of all experiments of project DOPPLEGANGER with eyes wide open.

“I suppose Kästner is your father?” asked Spain, and the brunette nodded, before putting his hand near his heart, biting his lip to conjure the headache that was at bay, starting to pound in his head and heart like a hammer.  
He was so close to the truth and at the same time he wished he could still ignore it.

“I want to find Father! Where is Daddy…Do you think he left?” whined ‘P’ soliciting his brother's attention.  
Suddenly, a loud metallic noise made all of them jump up to the ceiling and greet their teeth. They all turned their heads in the same direction, where was standing the tall giant nation after he had opened the door by his means.

“If you’re all finished babbling, there’s this room to explore, da?” growled Russia with emphasis. He didn’t like being ignored, and made it clear for the others by throwing daggers with his eyes and cracking his knuckles around his metal pipe.  
Hurriedly, the older nations reached the door in question with sweat dropping.   
However, they noticed once they approached that this room had something different.

“You see? It’s cold there. It might be a cold storage room. I don’t have to tell you what can be found in there…” added Russia with a savage smile. He didn’t waste much time and opened it wide, litting up the light.

It wasn't a meat storage room as per say, but sample storage at first glance.  
However, if most of the samples were little size tubes for cells or embryos, they found rectangular mild doors and they guessed easily what it could contain seeing the dimensions.  
Of course, the 5 year-old had to ask what it was.  
“It’s a freezer...for bodies I assume.” revealed France as the boy was giving insistent looks.

“Let’s see what is inside, da?” 

“Wait Russia..” England tried to interject, but the tall grayish-blond man had already the handle of one of the doors and pulled, revealing a pale green filled tube.

Inside the tube was indeed a body, naked one of a really young child, around 2 years old, floating inside some green liquid that might have been serum. His semi-dark brown hair was starting to form soft curls. He looked asleep, if not for the stained trace of blood at the level of his chest.  
Spain paled when he approached, and put himself in front of the glass to be sure he wasn’t having a nightmare.

“..I think...he looks like me…” he gulped, before his eyes went to the collar the child was wearing. S-TXY95DPL001 was written on it in perfectly visible black printed letters, with a barcode on the side. 

“Spain’s clone...it was the number 1 clone to live. The one we saw on the videos..they have preserved him.” whispered England. It was something else to see the clone in real, floating in his tube. Maybe the tube he had been living all his life in. 

“I find this of really, really bad taste. To think they would keep him like that just to preserve our cells or for whatever rubbish reason.” spatted an outraged France. “Reminds me of these baby’s in formol at Dupuytren’s museum...At least it wasn’t baby’s that had lived…”

Russia pushed back the tube inside, and took another handle.

“Do you really want to go through all these tubes Russia? I think we got the idea.”

But Russia didn’t listen. In fact, he seemed to be searching for something when he opened the next tube, almost concerned, which wasn’t like him.  
The second tube was empty, only filled with the same pale green liquid, which gave Spain a sudden idea.

“Wait, don’t close it Russia! Isn’t that serum? There’s a good amount of it! Maybe we can take it from one. Let’s open it!” propose Spain, hoping it would lighten the mood and make him forget it was there to potentially put the body of one of the two remaining clones.

“Why not, let’s try!”

It took them a few minutes to figure out how to open it, but when they did, they were met with a strong pickle-like odor that made them change their mind.

“And I guess it’s mixed with formol. It’s logic for conserving bodies actually…But it’s better not to use it for you..” informed France while smiling awkwardly at ‘I’ whose hope had been crushed all over again.  
Russia didn’t stop there and went to a third one and this time, he froze, his mouth opening slowly and words stuck inside his throat.  
This one had another body, a taller one wearing white clothes stained in blood, the one of a young teenager, eyes closed with bruises all over his body and a massive stain at the place of his abdomen.  
‘I’ and ‘P’ gapped at the sight and Italy’s clone immediately ran to the tube, making his way past Spain and England in frantics movements before putting his hand on the cold glass.

“It’s ‘R’! It’s... ‘R’....”

He was met with silence, along with an unsettling and gruesome view of the corpse of his former friend which made him regret approaching as it was sickening.  
He retreated and almost puked against the opposite wall, burying his face inside his hands and breathing heavily. France restrained ‘P’ and hid his eyes before he could go watch the morbid spectacle from too close.  
Russia on the contrary intensely looked at the body with a mixture of feelings he couldn’t quite describe, between disgust, sorrow and anger. He had found what he was searching for and there it was, his clone, a child version of himself, sacrificed to some scientist scheme the boy probably never quite comprehended himself. They had used his cells to create him and were stocking this part of him like another of their sample, if not garbage. Disposable material. He didn’t even meet the experiment but it still wounded him somehow. 

“..I’ve found it…’R’...I’ve found the conduit you’ve told me….I did it…I’m sorry, it was supposed to be yours…” cried ‘I’ behind him, trying to wipe his tears out as they were flowing.  
Not standing it anymore and seeing as Russia was staring with a really scary expression on his face, Spain put his hand on the handle and gently pushed it back to its place, making Number 02 disappear from all sight.

“Ok...let’s not pursue this.” stated warily the british nation, as he tried convincing Russia to move and not start causing havoc in here.

“If ‘R’ is here…’C’ is here too! I wanna see him!” yelled ‘P’ with stubborness, struggling against Francis’ grip.

“It’s...not a good idea ‘P’. It's only their bodies here, it’s not a view for children.”

“But I wanna bury him! I wanna bury him so he can go to the better place, like with Doggy!! You said he needed to be in the ground for that! Please please!! I don’t want ‘C’ to stay here! Let him outside with us!!” begged the albinos with teary eyes that almost broke France’s heart.  
The blond nation sat before the boy and gently spoke to him.

“We will, I promise you. But we need to regroup with everyone and make sure to find any information about the bad guys right? We need to find a good place for him before..disturbing him, don’t you think? Let him..sleep for a bit here. Nothing will happen to him in the meantime.”

Somehow, he convinced the kid, and they all decided they wanted to leave this place asap.

“ ‘I’, come on lad, don’t stay there!” called England seeing the clone was lagging behind.

“...Yes...sorry sir, I’m coming…” the boy answered while waking up.  
When the nations and his brother weren’t looking, he wiped out the blood coming from his nose, and rubbed his temples.  
The hammer was still battling in his head mercilessly since they had entered the room.  
And it wouldn’t stop anytime soon.

****

There was another door at the far left of the room, and that one was already opened wide.  
But group 1 didn’t get the chance to explore it right away as they heard noises and voices coming from the corridor.

“Shh! Someone’s here!” warned Spain, a finger on his mouse directed to the children.  
The others were taking position, guns grabbed and hiding behind the shelves.  
Russia decided to advance a little to the door and get to have a sight of the corridor.  
He was in the mood to hit something, but the older nations saw him sigh and put down his pipe.

“Russia, what..?”

“It’s okay comrade, though I’m a little deceived it isn't an enemy...” the slave grunted, as the steps became louder, until a young blond man with glasses shot his head toward the door, pointing his gun in the air before him.

“Hey you! FBI! You’re under arrest...Oh, it’s just you guys!” 

America smiled, putting down his gun as Germany, China, Japan, the Italy’s and Canada met up with them.

“Bloody Hell Alfred, you almost made me have a heart attack!”

“How loud do you think you are? If I were your enemies, I would know for sure you are coming. Not very wise, comrade…”

“Don’t start being mean Ivan, it’s not like we can hide a group of seven people...At least they would be scared of us aru.” 

“But why are you here? Shouldn’t have all of us met at the meeting point?” asked France while lifting an eyebrow.

“Well Papa...you were taking really long and we thought you might be into trouble.” answered softly Canada, relieved they have found his dads safe and sound.

“So, what is this place? Have you found something interesting?” asked Germany, his sharp eyes going around the room and its archives.

They all exchanged briefly about what they had found (America giving back his helicopter to ‘P’ whose mood lightened subsequently when he took the toy in his arms), putting pieces together.   
For the rest of course, they would need more time to debrief, but it still was incredible.

“..Damn, this floor was the best floor! I knew it!” whined aloud America, scratching his head in deception. 

“To be fair, I’m not sure I would want to see dead body’s floating in formol…” whispered Japan, thinking otherwise. 

“This floor is huge, and it seems more ancient than the others, seeing as there’s less doors working with electric devices. I think the facility was built little by little as the project expanded. Travasco might have the biggest part of his team working here.” commented Canada on his side.

“Who?”

“I’m Canad...no, I was talking about Travasco Kumabagu, the scientist behind this, not me.” 

“It’s a shame there’s no much serum left...at least we still have found some Aru.” said China half-defeated, showing to everyone the small tubes and a syringe they had collected from the 4th floor.

“It’s better than nothing thanks...” replied half-heartedly ‘I’, trying to hide his growing sentiment of hopelessness. 

“ Guys! There’s another blood trail right there...”

Romano pointed to the door left unexplored , and using their flashlights, they indeed noticed the trail blood was...much more apparent here.

“France, you were next to it the whole time, how did you fail to see this?” blurted England at his frenemy, annoyed.

“Huff! Should I remind you it is dark here even with lights? Besides, I didn’t leave too far from your side because you were calling to watch the videos!” defended France, huffing.

“Ve...Do you need glasses Big brother?” 

“Okay guys!! Let’s go there! I’m sure the final boss Travasco bastard is inside!” 

America threw himself to the opened door, and everyone had no choice but to follow him in what looked like another corridor.  
They were walking on the blood, which was partially dry.  
Germany could say it had been less than a day, but more than 6 hours in his estimation.   
It’s approximately at this moment the emergency generator died, leaving the countries and the children in darkness all dependants of their flashlights, which wasn’t really reassuring.

“Oh bugger...It had to be now of all time…” muttered an annoyed England.

“...At least If we can’t see much, our enemies can’t either..let’s stay concentrated.” said Japan, trying to be optimistic for once.

“There’s at least 2 different footsteps Aru…” noticed China, seeing the details of the shoes on the trails while lighting the floor.

“And there’s bullet holes on the wall Ve…” added Italy, shivering at the idea of a battle awaiting in the darkest part of the facility. He was very much regretting being here at the moment.

At the end of the corridor, another door was half-opened, blood on the side, and everyone stopped talking and moving.  
Slowly, America progressed toward it, and took a look inside. The room’s lights weren’t on of course but he spotted a lit flashlight on the floor of the room, enough for him to distinguish some important details. Details explaining no noise was heard from the other side.

“Hey...I think we’re too late for the final boss after all..”

The others didn’t understand what he meant right away, but he casually entered the room and they followed.  
The room looked like another staff room, much smaller and half emptied from a longer time than the others according to the cloud of dust each of their steps was forming. Probably an abandoned one when they changed the disposition of rooms, one could guess. There couldn’t have been too many people in here.  
There still remained a big Velleda board on the side behind a small lectern, facing rows of chairs.  
For the chairs, some of the few ones still here had been pushed on the side, and just near the entrance against the left wall was leaning the body of a small, old wrinkly man with disheveled gray/white hair and a mustache. Blood had flowed beneath him from one bullet he had received in the chest. If one was looking closely, they would see the gun he had dropped when finding death.

“Men, I present to you Professor Travasco! A shame to find him dead though, I really wanted to talk to the man.”

“Pssst, look. There’s another body right here and I guess it’s the one who killed him.” 

Flashlight all went near the lectern. Facing the direction Travasco was, the body was leaning against the wood and had dropped his weapon as well.  
He was also wearing a blouse and they could see he had been hit by several more bullets : one on the shoulder, one on the right flank and the final blow on the abdomen as well.  
The man was much younger that his opponent, and had characteristic spiked brown hair the children of the group immediately recognized.

“Father!!” screamed ‘I’ and ‘P’ in unison, before the two ran toward him, the smaller dropping away his toy on the floor to empty his hands. The taller experiment shook the man’s shoulders trying to wake him up.

“Father! Father! Do you hear me??”

But he wasn’t of course, remaining limp and listless, his eyes semi-opened. His glasses slipped from his face at the movement given to his soulless body. ‘I’ shook him until he didn’t have the strength to. He then stopped, face down, tears falling on the floor, and his head nuzzling against the chest of the man who had created him.

“Father...why did you do this...I don’t understand...I’ve never understood you...it’s like we’ve never really known you...” he panted, struggling with emotions he thought he couldn’t feel anymore toward the man after this.

“Big brother...did he degenerate too? Vati went like a vegetable too?” asked a frantic ‘P’, as he put his hand to the man’s face and sensed the coldness of his skin.

The nations breathed heavily, not knowing what to do anymore. Italy was praying on the side for the deceased they have met all the way around.   
But they didn’t approach too close, letting the boys mourn over their deceased father, while trying to understand what had happened.

“ The blood in the archive room...have to be their father’s, ‘cause I don’t see Travasco walking the corridor with a bullet in the chest like that…”

“You think Travasco wounded him and chased after him? But why?”

“Didn’t we stated he had betrayed him, let the experiments escape AND killed employees to do so....that’s a good reason to be mad and want to end the man’s life.”

They whispered to themselves when the crying noises became heavy coughs.  
China and Germany were the first to rush to the boys and saw ‘I’ pulling a hand onto his chest,coughing blood.

“Big brother ‘I’! Not you! Not you!!” panicked ‘P’ as he hugged his brother in an attempt to stop the attack his brother was having.  
‘I’ gulped, trying to contain the cough, then wiped the blood out of his mouth, looking limp and tired. Tired from his condition, but also mentally exhausted. However, something in his eyes told that despite this, he had been thinking and now, had reached a conclusion.  
With a frightening calm, he sat down next to Dr Kästner’s body, and took his brother in his arms gently, caressing his white short hair.

“ ‘P’...I’m sorry, I can’t do it after all...Seeing ‘R’...and Father dead, it’s just too much for me...”  
Tears of salt water mixed with blood flowed on his cheeks as he was talking.

“But we are almost there Big brother!! Why do you give up!!! I don’t want to be alone..…” cried out ‘P’, feeling angry and powerless at the situation which was getting out of hands. They had made it all this way and he had thought things were getting better, so what could he think of his brother saying such things so seriously! He couldn’t process it, he didn’t want to. However, he had to listen.

“ I’ve been really really happy to have you near me this...whole time...cough....brother...I love you very very much, I..I couldn’t have done all this if it’s not for you...I really wished we could be together out of this…” stammered ‘I’ before turning toward the personifications, searching his words in his bloodied but dry throat.

“I want to thank you...I got to see the outside and a lot of things... I got to show it to ‘P’ and you took care of us...thanks you.”

America tried to interject, not liking the way it was going.

“Wait buddy! Your brother’s right, don’t give up! We still have some tubes of serum! We could try it! ”

“That’s right! Just wait a minute I will put them in the syringe! ” shouted China while opening the tubes and preparing the injection.   
‘I’ sniffed, touched to see their effort to save him, but he couldn’t help rejecting it.

“ I’m...I’m sorry, you’ve been doing all this for me but ….‘C’...he was having multiple injections per day and it..didn’t help in the end... And even if we have this one...cough..It will just get worse over time....and it will just hurt..I don’t want it to hurt…Please...cough cough...” the boy pleaded, torned apart by his will of life and the desperate situation he was in.

From this, they all knew in the back of their mind it was too late, and it wasn’t only because of the ridiculous amount of serum they had gathered so far but because ‘I’ seemed to have abandoned the fight. This didn’t help them to feel less emotional about it, and even Canada could be seen wiping a few tears from the corner of his eyes.  
Germany tried to stay as stiff as possible, but it was hitting to close from home for him to succeed. This time, Italy grabbed his hand in support, grimacing at the scene with sorrow, pleading internally China to go faster.  
‘I’s body was giving up more and more, bruises forming like previously from all spots, a bloodstain socking his clothes once again, feeling warm against ‘P’s skin.  
He grimaced at the pain and panted, just enough time to let him go over with what he wanted to say.

“‘P’, brother…cough.. I know...I’m mean to you for doing this..….but I want you to go with them. Live for me... in the outside...And misters...please take care of him...he has nowhere to go…”

His eyes closed but he was using his last strength to hug his brother tightly in a protective loving way, even when he started to talk incoherently in a mix of italian and english, his brain suffering from lack of oxygen and degeneration.

“....Fratello..I will go with..….Father… where is...Father?... Where…I have to go...I want to sleep Father...can you...Read me... the book..for... for tonight.…just once….”

At this point, Germany, Italy and China who were the nearest grabbed gently the boy and separated the two kids, only letting ‘P’ grab his brother’s hand.  
They rested him on the back, putting him in a secure position just in case and Italy began singing a lullaby again, the same he had sang that other night to ease the boy, caressing his hair, his lips trembling as the melodious voice was coming out.  
It was the only thing he could do to alleviate the pain, even for a little.  
China finally performed the injection of about 20ml of serum and there was still one hope the attack stopped on its own and the kid recovered. But it didn’t happen.  
In a last gasp of air and cough, ‘I’ stopped moving, breath becoming shorter and shorter until there was none.  
China checked on his pulse from his carotid and closed his eyes before announcing.

“It’s over, the kid is gone Aru…”

The most religious nations prayed for him, the others just stayed silent, paying a minute for respect.  
Italy was feeling like he had lost a son and lost composure, crying. He had gotten so attached to his clone for the past few days, he couldn’t believe he was dead, so suddenly like this. Romano wasn’t in a good shape either, and he leaned against Spain in a silent ask of comfort, which the taller nation granted to him, hugging his side with impenetrable emotions.  
Germany turned around to see France crouch to ‘P’ and tell him that they would take good care of him and that he wouldn’t have to worry.  
The albinos had stopped crying, his eyes much more red than usual with closed expression. He was caressing his brother’s hand absentmindedly and the german could hear him sniff at a steady rate and asking ‘I’ to wake up.  
While America was gently taking ‘I’ on his two arms and Russia doing the same with Father, Germany faced the small tiny experiment, crouching as well, his blue eyes trying to catch the averting red ones.  
It was going to be five times worse than when he had tried to talk about Doggy, but he felt he had to do this, for the kid’s sake.

“ ‘P’. All my condolences for your brother...and your father… You know we nations, we’ve seen a lot of us...or humans die, sometimes closed friends….but, it doesn’t mean it isn’t painful for us even for now. I told you how I had lost my brother too so I can understand that you’re lost right now, how it feels like your world is.. crumbling and there’s no sense to it anymore, but I want you to know, I..I’m here for you. We all are. You don’t have to hide how much you’re pained from us, we will help you go through this! You are not alone and...I wanted to ask..if I may…”

The nation then waited for his words to reach him.  
The kid had made all these efforts to keep these unbearable emotions at bay, blocking them in a preservative instinct, but the shaky walls in his mind were already starting to crumble at the adult words. The tiny pale boy was shivering and wincing, his look finally rising to meet Germany’s eyes.  
When he got all his attention, Germany took a deep breath and asked his important question.

“‘P’. I’ve decided to adopt you. I will take care of you as much as my brother took care of me...And as much as your brother did to you. Do you want to...become my brother? Well I know uh...it may be sounding improper in the circonstances but…”

But ‘P’ launched himself around his neck, nuzzling his head on his shoulder and started to cry loudly before he could continue his sentence.  
Not knowing if he had said something wrong, Germany worriedly looked at France searching for answers about the matter, paralyzed, until he felt the boy’s head nod against his shoulder.

“..You...does that mean you’re...accepting…”

The boy was still crying, but the blond man could hear a little muffled “ ..yes..”, which somehow made him extremely happy and sad at the same time. The oddest of feeling he had felt for a while.  
He grabbed the 5 year-old on his lap with care, patting his back and signaling to the others they could proceed, back to the exit.

They had seen a lot, and they all needed to rest for now.  
Before leaving, Japan grabbed and carried the unmanned helicopter from the dirty floor, not knowing if ‘P’ would even want it back after this. But he carried it anyway for the kid not to lose everything that day.

****

‘I’s and Father’s bodies weren’t taken back to the bungalow right away, because there was a risk they would rot too fast before being repatriated. They couldn’t just bury them in the middle of nowhere like for Doggy so they put them in the cold room, that would still work a few days before it warmed up. They dived ‘I’ inside one of the ‘caskets’ tubes, even if they felt repulsion doing so. They had no other choice though, if they wanted the boy to remain as long as possible.   
When laying Father’s body on the floor before covering him with whatever tissu they had found, England and Japan discovered a USB key hidden in an internal pocket of his gown, and took it for them to see later.

Afterward, they all went outside, leaving the abandoned place and returned to the bungalow.  
Quickly, America called with his talkie walkie his government and explained the conclusion of his investigation, then asked for reinforcement to clean up the place and collect everything. He didn’t talk about details, definitively not about ‘P’s rescue, as humans even his own people couldn’t be trusted about the matter.  
It would need years for the kid to recover (if he ever recovered) and the worst he could do was to put him into a whole process of never ending tests and interrogations like the hell he had been saved from.

Too soon, the nations had felt their vacation come to an end, not as refreshing as they had believed it would be. Quite exhausting in reality.  
But life was going on and they had learnt a lot about themselves. Moreover, they had saved one of them, and that was all that was on their mind when they parted to go home.

******

Few days later, a whole team was sent by America’s government to the place and they did their investigation of the incident, collecting every element that had been abandoned, then chasing after the responsibles, starting to arrest people on the illegal searches.

They never found Nina Arkonlavesc, who used her relationships to make herself disappear, along with all the parts of the project her men had saved from the facility. Fortunately for her, as she was accused of treason for making military’s research (and weapons) on US’s soil and could easily be put in jail for her remaining life.  
Pr Eiling didn’t got this chance and was sent to prison a few years while losing his PhD for breaking the Hippocrate’s serment, while Pr Bertelloni, who wasn’t directly involved with the clone experiments and was a precious practitioner in his country, only received a penalty and got away with it. He still was monitored, because of his knowledge of countries.  
The few animals still alive had been taken care of and samples of serums levied for testing and production, as they were instructed by America to do, fearing ‘P’s health would require serum in the future.

The mysterious door of the 4th floor had also been explored and it revealed to be leading to a 5th floor, which was literally a bunker. It was really old, and they wondered if it wasn’t there before even the laboratory and the cottage were constructed. There were supplies as any bunker would have : lyophilised food able to last for decades in case of nuclear attempt and from the hint they had collected, they concluded it had been there in prevision of Cold War consequences of exchanges of nukes...Paranoïd people when they’re serious at it!

The report was classified, all people involved knowing the existence of the personification were silenced or bought over, everything out of public awareness.  
The cottage was closed and the association about Nature protection of the White mountains forest was dismantled, leading to manifestation from people who knew nothing about what was behind the facade. Eventually, time operated and everyone forgot about them, a new association of Nature protectors taking over the place, this one without hidden motives.

That is how Travasco's ‘Project DOPPLEGANGER’ had come to an end, after decades of dedication.


	19. Bonus Chapter : Kästner's secret tapes

A few days after Father’s body was found, England gave the USB key to America, who had secretly brought a computer on their vacation, probably for his investigation’s sake.  
They had watched it at night, in secrecy, without talking about it to the other nations because they didn’t know if it was that important.

Among several documents like plannings, complex formulas but also medical follow-up reports of ‘I’ and ‘P’s development, behaviour and learning, they found the report of 1998 about the cages incidents England previously downloaded.  
But what they got interested about were video takes filmed by a camera. The videos were more ancient and they decided to watch them.   
Almost all the videos were showing Kästner talking to a motionless camera in one of the laboratories that had been emptied. They saw multiple green test tubes with biological material in it, as much as the camera could show them.  
They had never met the man alive, but they could say he looked clever, his eyes sharp behind those glasses. Someone that seemed too precautious to reveal anything but that deep down wanted to expose to the world his work and discoveries.  
Maybe it was the reason for these videos?   
The takes seemed to follow the experiment’s week after week. Not everything was thrilling to watch so Arthur and Alfred started to select the ones according to the other documents they had found.

****

Take 1-00DPLK : 

“My name is Lambert Kästner and I’ve just achieved my PhD a few years ago. I’ve accepted to lend my grand-father’s , Pr Hanke Kästner, DNA samples of a nation personification, Prussia, on the condition that I would be part of this project Doppleganger myself.   
However, I still want to thank Professor Bertelloni and Professor Travasco for providing me two other samples to work on.”

Kästner showed two test tubes with codes on them, one the countries recognised as ‘I’s codebar name.

“This one is Italy’s DNA, and this other one, America’s, implanted in an human empty egg. My goal will be to succeed in creating stable clones, using the knowledge my grand-father and predecessors left to me. I will not explain all my secrets of course. The goals of this series of videos is to follow the experiment from each step.  
Collecting data, whether they are success or failure is essential for this project to be led, to improve. That’s how we discovered the serum and the electromagnetic waves helped in producing clones and why we always use the fusion of the two nowadays.  
I’ve mixed these samples with a few more ingredients, and now, I will put them at test.  
But to begin, I will set aside Hanke’s sample, as it is too rare for me to waste on a failed experiment.  
Now Lidie, let’s begin.”

Lidie seemed to be the name of one of the woman assistants behind him. She responded with a nod and took with precaution the test tubes before putting them inside a machine with rings that looked like a miniature version of the one America saw on the 2nd floor. He guessed it was the one emitting shockwaves.

The samples were locked inside and the machine started. Then, the video was cut.

Take 2-01DPLK

“It has been 7 days since incubation was started. We’ve decreased the frequencies progressively and everything is going smoothly. I-KXY07DPL003 and A-KXY07DPL004 have gone from one cell to the ‘morula’ stage in the organic jelly I’ve put in the tube and are starting to morph into ‘blastula’ stage.  
It is important to remember to add nutrients periodically for the process to succeed, the serum isn’t sufficient alone.”

Take 5-04DPLK

“The transition to a larger tube wasn’t without consequences. It has been a week since A-KXY07DPL004 has not seemed to increase in size, contrary to I-KXY07DPL003 who have reached the 15th stage of Carnegie. I will wait for a few weeks before reaching a conclusion, as it could be simple lateness of growth.”

Take 8-07DPLK

“ A-KXY07DPL004 hasn’t shown any sign of growth so far. I will have the regret to announce it is considered a failure, in contrast with ‘I-KXY07DPL003’ who’s developing normally. Let’s remind Travasco once tried to clone America in the past and failed at early stages. I wonder if the fact we are in the US itself is affecting the cells and ILEN, although Professor Bertelloni believes that more a sample is near (distance speaking) its original, more it will grow efficiently.”

Take 9-08DPLK 

“Week 8 and I-KXY07DPL003 have reached the crucial point of foetal stage, entering organogenesis. We can see his heart beating since week 6 and it seems to be making little movements.”

Take 15-14DPKL

“Week 14, the foetus is moving its arms and fingers quite well and internal organs forming seem at place. No attacks had been witnessed so far and the heartbeat is stable. This is a promising subject so far, better than R-MXY04DPL002 who had suffered about 3 at the equivalent period.”

Take 23-22DPKL

“ The gender has been identified as male according to the DNA collected. No chromosom mutation has been suspected from ‘I-KXY07DPL003’’s growth as it happened with a former experiment in the past.”

Take 36-35DPKL

“We are reaching birth stages. ‘I-KXY07DPL003’ is viable at the time, but one of the challenges will be to take him out of the tube and not trigger a degenerative acute attack. I’m looking forward to it, it sounds really really promising. If he is a success, I could use that method for my grand-father sample and recreate a fallen empire.”

Take 40-39DPKL

“‘I-KXY07DPL003’ is finally born! Apgar score was at 6 out of 10 in the first few minutes, but then it reached 10/10 at 5 minutes and the constants were correct. He was monitored for 3 days now and still no sign of degenerative attack. Professor Travasco seems happy about the news and we will have a reunion about my report and the whereabouts.  
I’m not against him following the same education and pass that R-MXY04DPL002 is having, as I prefer not to expose that child to the growth waves too often.   
We don’t have enough hindsight to reach a conclusion about this method but as long as it is not endangering the experiment’s success, I’m agreeing with it.”

***  
They passed through the series with ‘P’s development which looked the same..or that what they wanted to do until England pointed out a file with a strange name.

“Look America, this one in the middle, it’s called ‘ Takes 3Final take -0000’. Why would a final take be in the middle of the other takes?”  
Puzzled, they clicked on the file and discovered a way more recent video, the date being only...four day before his death. Kästner was in his office recording it, with a grave expression on the face.

***

Take 3Final take- 0000

“If someone sees this video, then I’m probably dead already or I will very soon. I’m recording it in advance, as a message for the future.  
I’m Doctor Lambert Kästner, having a PhD in human biology and development. I’ve created two subjects for Travasco’s project Doppleganger: ‘I’ and ‘P’. These children are the product of clonage of mysterious beings called personification, which are what we could call a human incarnation of a country.  
I’ve came to know them from my grand-father, an ancient nazi scientist that had fled in America after the war to avoid repercussion of the Nuremberg trials. At the time, he had met with one, who would become “East Germany”, formerly “Prussia” and befriended him. Or it could be the opposite actually. He told me that one day, when the man was bleeding, he got access to his blood before the cut closed up ‘by magic’. When he collected the sample, it was by pure curiosity to study its property, and as he abandoned his native land, it became the only relic he had gathered from the past that had been meaningful to him.   
All the last part of his existence, he studied it but at some point feared to go further, as guilt of the war and human experimentations had scarred him to the core.   
Travasco contacted him for a collaboration after he heard of it, but he had refused for that same reason.  
I was one of the few to be aware of it, and I always thought it was a waste of an opportunity when he had stopped his search.  
When he died and entrusted me with this relic, I moved from Germany to America and proposed on my own a partnership with Travasco under his supervision to gain knowledge about these personifications. It was something of...a dream, even if I knew very well I would be confronted with limits of being a subordinate.  
But maybe I was foolish to think it didn’t bother me.

Thanks to these exchanges with experts gathered by Travasco, I’ve come to get interested in project Doppleganger and the idea to create our own nation/ immortal human. I created two alive clones for the matter, one of Italy and one of Prussia, my most accomplished one. I’ve seen them grow and came to realise something I couldn’t comprehend before, when they only were samples in a test tube. I couldn’t comprehend that these little cells would become human beings with feelings, that they would become children that would depend on me, that they would call me father and get attached to me.   
I don’t know anymore what my real purpose was, it wasn’t this, but it happened and somehow I don’t regret it.  
It still makes me proud of what I achieved.

However, matters came to be this year, perturbations we all couldn’t imagine, and Travasco but especially Eiling...they seemed to want to destroy all the things I have built so far. If it wasn’t a game of powerful relationship inside the facility, Eiling wouldn’t have his word to say and as much as he is also passionate and doesn’t mean harm, he is in pass of making everything cramble, I just know it.  
I’ve for politics to never show my weaknesses, but if I’ve to be honest for once : this pisses me off. My search, my subjects, it is serious to me and this project is becoming nonsense at the point because of hasty decisions.  
Malsinger was one to lick on Travasco’s boot to obtain his favors. I’m not, and I will prove it.  
In fact, I’ve thought about it and concluded : there’s nothing more in my life than ‘I’ and ‘P’. 

That’s why what I’m going to do will probably sign my death warrant, and this video can be considered as my testament.  
I will destroy the whole system in order for my little experiments to escape this. They might die in the process, but that’s the only way I’ve found.  
Travasco is still ignoring all this and my intention, he had never seen me as a threat able to go as far as this, and that is what will get him lost.

Now, I will tell my farewells while I’m making my plan to spoil the whole tree and its fruits of years of research.   
I apologize to all the ones that will be killed in the process,their families and all the dreams I will crush.  
You can call me selfish, you can call me mad, it must be true. I’ve always calculated and manipulated...that’s how far a scientist can go.  
I’ve never given the love ‘I’ and ‘P’ wanted from me, but surprisingly, it seemed all I did was enough. I apologize to them too, I’m not the nice father they wanted and I hope inside they will not suffer the same fate as me.

But my decision is taken and when I promise something, it will happen.  
I will die with my search, with this facility, so I give you my farewells and if we ever meet, well, it might be in hell.“

The video ended with Lambert’s mischievous smile and determined brown eyes piercing through his glasses.

****

It was...well, quite disturbing and the two nations didn’t know what to think of it. It wasn’t information they wanted to share with the government either, nor maybe with other nations.  
In their own accord, America was the new guardian of the USB key and of the last message ‘Father’ had left to the world.


	20. Epilogue

The air was brisk but it was still warm enough for the weather to be considered good. Spring had fast passed by and now the feeling of summer coming was in everyone’s head and hopes for vacations to start soon.

Blackie was trying to get the attention of his master in the kitchen, the dachshund eyes screaming “Let’s go to walk Uman!” while walking straight and forth, being observed by his fellow Aster and Berlitz. The two dogs weren’t at that level of excitement but still sensed it was that time of the year coming again when they were going for ‘the special walk’. At one point, Berlitz parted from his trio to walk to the living room.  
Panting, the fluffy cream teddy bear sniffed the air more than he saw the young man he was looking for and once he found him, approached calmly as not to disturb the human.

The man was sitting on a chair next to an open window, his arm beneath his head, looking at the garden.  
He was so lost in his own mind he didn’t even notice the canine presence at first, and only when the yellow chick onto his head started chirping did he seem to come back to reality, by brighting a smile.

“Mm? What is it Gilbird? You like the summer wind too?”

The bird chirped again and bounced over the pale man’s head in a response of approval.

“Yeah! Me too, summer is so awesome and beautiful, it’s in the top ten of my favorite seasons...Oh, Berlitz you were here big boy? Does that mean West is over with making our meal?”

The dog didn’t respond of course, but he moved his tail right to left, earning a pat on the head and scratches on his back which made him happy.  
The albinos smiled widely and proceeded to hug the dog and play a little with him, until he heard the 2 others coming at him, especially a determined Blackie who launched himself without warning, making him fall from his chair.  
Soon, he was engulfed in fluffiness and tongue licks.

“Kesesese! You little rascals! You couldn’t resist being in my awesome presence could you? But if you want to subdue me, you will have to go a long way!”

He retaliated with scratches and hugs, exciting even more the dogs.  
They were all having so much fun he didn’t notice he was being called.

“Gebbert, have you seen the dogs? Gebbert!....’P’!”

At the mention of his real name the young man came back to his senses and stopped the game, calling back.

“Ludwig! They’re here with me in the living room!”

It always felt strange to be called by the letter name again after so long, however it happened sometimes when he wouldn’t respond to the new one he was given, so he wasn’t blaming his brother to feel impatient and use the shortcut way.  
He had been told he was much less of a troublemaker than Gilbert though. But it was normal, because even if they shared his memories, he wasn’t him and would never be.  
The blond nation appeared at the door, dressed in impeccable black, with two backpacks probably containing their sandwiches and the food for the dogs, along with the dog's bowls and water.  
When he saw him, all disheveled on the floor, Germany sighed.

“Ah...look at your clothes now..”

Indeed, he was a bit of a mess, his formal uniform (which he didn’t really like as he preferred comfy clothes) had even one button missing, a button that Aster spitted on the side discreetly while giving his innocent look.  
All the dogs had disciplined themself when the boss of the house had appeared, something sometimes Gebbert was a tad jealous of, because he wanted to have that much control over them too. 

“Woups..sorry…” he stuttered while getting up, trying to do his tie back correctly, until Ludwig came to his rescue and helped make him presentable again.

“Alright, now it’s gut. I think we can go. Can you take the flowers please?”

They packed the things inside the car, making room for the dogs at the back seats and went to the road. They talked a bit about all and everything during the ride.

“So, how was work this week? I didn’t see you for 3 whole days!”

“Harassing indeed. The president is having a lot to think of lately...And me as well.”

“Man, I’m glad I’m not working as much as you! Looks like hell to be a real nation!” Started joking the albinos before adding “...but if you wanna some help, you know I would do anything for you…”

“I know Gebbert, I know…”

They went silent as the forest was visible. It was always like this, having this solemn composure imposed as natural in this place.  
They parked, and the dogs and themselves walked to the secret pathway and to their hidden cemetery.  
Gebbert was leading the group, and stood out to walk toward the graves, staring at them with a soft and nostalgic look on his face, before talking again .

“Hi Prussia, Hi ‘I’, Hi Father…”

Next to Prussia’s grave, there were ‘I’s and his father sharing the same sober one covered by vines, and a third one with ‘C’ and ‘R’ reposing here as well. His deceased friends had been gathered together in their final home, in the outside, as they had always wished.

“And you too, ‘C’, ‘R’. Hope you’ve been doing well….because I do.”

This statement contrasted with the sadness on his face, his smug usual smile disappearing as his lips sides dropped. When he saw them, he always thought about how life could have been different for them and how much he had wished to share his new life with what was his family in heart.  
He wondered if Father would be proud of him, because apparently, that was what they were supposed to do when their children succeed in life. He pictured ‘R’ and ‘C’ seeing the outside for the first time and the funny faces they would have made, the silly questions they would have asked, their face smiling. He imagined ‘I's face if he had once tasted pizza’s from the Italian’s brothers.

He thought about all those missed opportunities and it still hurt him.  
But the comforting hand on his shoulder reminded him that he would not be alone, and for quite a time...maybe his whole life.

“Are you ok Gebbert?” asked a concerned Ludwig.

“Yeah...I often miss them. I was only 5 at the time and now I’m already 20! But I still have vivid memories of them. I’m forgetting the details but...well, I’ve got new good memories too so it’s fine!” He smiled at the nation, which nodded.

“ But now, I’m glad I’ve you.” ‘P’ whispered a bit,and before Germany could ask what he had said, he took the bouquets and crouched forward, disposing them on the graves with love and care.  
The blond nation did the same to Prussia’s, also whispering the following sentences out of the other ears reach.

“Hi Bruder. It has been...I don’t count anymore. This year was a hassle as the others last ones. A lot is happening in the country, great changes for the best and the worst and I’m not sure I wish you were there to see every of them. But you would probably want to see a lot, knowing you.  
Gebbert is studying engineering and he is getting good at it...I might repeat myself every year, but it always makes me feel like you succeeded in letting a part of yourself remain on this earth, like if you had a son…..and that I was watching over him.  
I know it’s silly, but I’m sure you would feel proud. You always were for that kind of thing.  
Now, we must go. See you next year Bruder.”

And at this, they said goodbye and left, eating their sandwiches, feeding the dogs on the way and talking eagerly about the planned dinner at Italy’s place they would have that night.

THE END


	21. Author's note of end

Hi there, this is the Author concluding this story and big adventure that was for me Hetaclones (even if you might not have felt it like it was long!).  
For me, It took over 10 years to put it into words (Fortunately I don't mean I've worked for so long on it with all my brain's cells capacity, just that it was a project of mine that suddenly this past months came true! Imagine someone blocking writing a story (fanfiction!) like that for 10 years! OuO)

And yeah, to be fair I'm a drawing person before a writer! I wanted to make a comic of it, like i did the first page on paper and all but...but I already told that too before! Me rambling again!  
Talking about drawing, If you want to see some illustrations of Hetaclones, you can find them on my deviantart channel 'chibiclem', as well as some other hetalia (mostly hetalia, I told you I'm massive hetalia fan? OuO). 

If you have any questions or theories, don't hesitate! I love rambling about Hetalia all day long! OuO (But I'm kinda new on Ao3 (as a writer), I don't even know if it's possible to leave a comment! XD)

But my final words will be : Thanks you very much for reading, even if it's a little (but if it's a little you will not come to read so far this note, silly me!), I really appreciate it! ^^

**Author's Note:**

> 'I' is pronounced [i].  
> Since i'm not english speakers, it wasn't a problematic name for me until I decided to write the story in english! XuX
> 
> This is a story that exist since almost 8 years in my head. I always wanted to draw it, as I wasn't that confident in my english back then, but it was really a huge work and I never got the courage to make a full comic about it.  
> I know it is quite late for the Hetalia fandom (Like 8 years late! XD) but....better late than never right! ;)
> 
> I'm feeling more confortable with English now after so long, but don't hesitate to correct me!  
> And the story takes place in 2016 because of reasons!


End file.
